Eddy's Holes
by AMX
Summary: Parody of the book Holes. Eddy Ydde is a boy from a cursed family who is condemned to the desert for a crime he didn't do. But he soon finds himself digging a hole into a forgotten past...R
1. The Ydde Curse

**Author's note: **Well, I promised a _Holes _parody, and here it is, thanks to the suggestions I got from Kenshinhdykstal777. Speaking of which, I'd like to thank Kenshinhdykstal777 for those suggestions. Without them, I probably would never have gotten this story up.

Well, since that's said and done, I guess I should mention that I don't own the book _Holes _or any of the other characters in this story . . . except Nathan Ro, of course. The other characters and the book belong to their respective owners.

Happy reading!

* * *

He never told anyone about it. He didn't think there was any need to tell anyone about it. Besides, who would believe him? Hardly anyone ever listened to him anyway.

It was 3:00 in the afternoon. The last day of school. The start of summer vacation in the small town of Peach Creek. But there was one certain boy who was both happy and sad at the same time.

The young boy's full name was Eddy Skipper Ydde. He preferred Eddy. He hated his middle name. And he wasn't too fond of the fact that his first name was his last name spelled backward. It was something that had been in his family for generations. His father and his grandpa were also named Eddy Ydde. His grandpa was Eddy Ydde II. His father was Eddy Ydde III. So that meant that our Eddy is Eddy Ydde IV. But Eddy didn't care if it was family tradition. He still wondered why it had to be _he _who had the tradition instead of his older brother.

As Eddy walked away from the dreaded torture facility known as "school," he was both happy and ticked off at the same time. He was happy because school was finally over, and he was ticked off because that stupid Kevin had thrown his notebook into the toilet. Which meant Eddy had to fish it out and carry the mess home in his backpack.

Eddy didn't have too many friends. He was definitely not friends with Kevin (would _you _be friends with somebody who threw your notebook into the toilet?), Jonny had that stupid board Plank, there was no way he would be friends with bratty Sarah or wimpy Jimmy (especially after the young protege had stabbed him in the back), Nazz usually hung out with Kevin, Rolf was plain strange, and the Kankers . . . he didn't even want to get started on them.

The only friends Eddy had were two other boys. And they were both named Ed. Ed single-D was a tall, smelly, lump of a friend who had no brain at all, and when he wasn't throwing his weight around for Eddy, he was sitting in his filthy room full of turkeys, gravy, and those schlocky old B movies. Edd Double-D, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. He was also taller than Eddy, but he was a neat freak. He loved to learn, and he always had to have everything perfect and clean. He communicated with his parents through sticky notes.

Whenever Eddy thought long enough about it, he began to wonder why these three boys kept each other around. But then he would always remember the one thing that kept them together: jawbreakers.

The three Eds loved jawbreakers. The only problem was that they hardly ever had any money to get these scrumptious candies that came in so many mouth-watering colors and flavors. So what did they do? They tried to talk the other kids out of their allowances, of course!

Throughout the summer, and whenever they could during the school year, the three Eds always came up with some kind of wacky scam to try and get quarters from the other kids. On very rare occasions, the scams (thought up by Eddy and constructed by Double D) actually worked. But the three boys failed many more times than they succeeded. Usually it seemed that it was because of a mistake caused by Eddy or Ed, but mostly Ed (he was definitely not the brightest star in the sky). And whenever a scam went wrong, Eddy would immediately blame either of his two friends for their misfortune, even if they had nothing to do with it.

Eddy knew what he was doing. He knew when Double D and Ed screwed up or not. And he knew when it was really his fault. What he was really doing was trying to hide the inevitable. But as the boys failed more and more, the real reason why the boys failed so much was beginning to crush poor Eddy. And there was no way he could get rid of it.

Eddy was cursed. No, this isn't the curse that was put on him when he stole Rolf's cursed phone. This was a different curse. A curse that was on his entire family. It was this curse that kept the Eds from succeeding in most of their scams. And it was this curse that made his father recently lose his job.

Now he was trying to make a living by finding a way to recycle old sneakers. They were running out of money fast. His father was not going anywhere with his work, and soon there would hardly be any money to support Eddy, his father, his mother, and now his grandfather, who had moved in recently. Soon, they would have to move out of their house either because they would run out of money, or because somebody was going to evict them because of the foul odor that now inhabited Eddy's home. And it was all because of Eddy's no-good-dirty-rotten-chicken-stealing-great-great-grandfather.

Eddy slightly smiled to himself as he walked farther away from the school, and gave a slight hand gesture to Double D and Ed to say that he would catch up to them later. Whenever misfortune struck the Ydde's, the one who got the blame was Eddy's no-good-dirty-rotten-chicken-stealing-great-great-grandfather, who had started the curse. Apparently, this member of the Ydde family had stolen a chicken from an old wizard, and the wizard put a curse on him and all of his descendants. As a result, Eddy and his whole family was always at the wrong place at the wrong time. And he wasn't too fond of birds either, especially chickens (which sometimes put a strain on his friendship with Ed, since Ed _loved _chickens).

It wasn't always this bad. Back when Eddy was younger, back when his older brother was still around, things weren't that bad. Sure, Eddy's father had a stroke of bad luck now and then, but they managed. But that was before Eddy knew about the curse. He frowned. He hated this curse, and he missed his brother.

He hardly ever showed it, but he truly missed his brother. When his brother was around, he was treated with respect. But now he was gone. And Eddy hardly had anything sentimental to remember him by. But there was one thing. When Eddy was younger and his brother was around, his brother would always sing him a certain song. And whenever Eddy's brother sang him the song, he would always explain to Eddy how the song had been in the Ydde family for generations.

"_If only, if only," the woodpecker sighs._

"_The bark on the trees was as soft as the skies."_

_And the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely._

_He cries to the moo-ooo-ooon, "If only, if only."_

Eddy's favorite part of the song was when his brother would throw his head back and howl the word "moon." But now Eddy's brother wasn't there. He wasn't there to keep his little brother's spirits up. He wasn't there to sing the special song to him. He wasn't there to tell him that they would get through this. He wasn't there to do anything.

By now, Eddy was right in the middle of the town, staring through the window of his target: the candy shop. He saw the shelf full of the sweet, sweet jawbreakers he so longed for. But, as usual, he had no money.

As Eddy sadly walked away, he began to wonder if it was even worth being around anymore. None of his ideas worked, he never had any money, and pretty soon, his family would lose their house. And it wasn't like a miracle was going to fall right out of the sky or anything . . .

CLUNK!

Suddenly, something hit the back of Eddy's head, knocking him down right onto his face. As he got up, wondering what _idiot _had just knocked him on the back of the head, he saw something on the sidewalk. There, lying right next to Eddy, was a pair of sneakers. A miracle.

Eddy picked up the sneakers. He examined them. They were black and white tennis shoes with red X's on the side of them. And they were a pretty small size. They were only a few sizes bigger than Eddy's. There was also one other distinguishing feature to the shoes: they smelled awful!

Eddy took this as a sign. His father was trying to find a way to recycle old sneakers, and this might help him somehow. As he got up, he started to look around. There was nobody there. Nobody who could have thrown the sneakers at Eddy's head. Then he began to run. He had no idea why he was running, but he just did. But as he was running, he suddenly heard a somewhat familiar sound ringing through the air. As he ran, he slightly turned his head. His eyes widened. There was a police car right behind him.

After that, everything seemed like a blur to poor Eddy. He finally stopped running. A cop came out of the car and started to ask Eddy some questions. Eddy, in a stupor, answered all of the cop's questions, even though he didn't really know what he was even answering. Then he felt something cold and hard slap across his wrists. Eddy slowly glanced down, and his eyes widened again. Handcuffs were on his wrists! What the heck had just happened? What had he told the cops? Sure, he was used to getting in trouble for his hair-brained scams, but all those rounds of punishment could never have prepared him for this! Then he realized what was to blame: the curse. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Eddy tried to focus on the things around him, but it was all just a fuzzy blur. But he was able to make something out. The cop was talking into a walkie-talkie. He was saying something about how he caught the kid who had stolen Captain Falcon's sneakers . . .

Hold on. Captain Falcon? As in the famous racer? Those were _his _sneakers that had fallen on Eddy's head? Eddy knew all about Captain Falcon. He was one of his heroes. He had never lost any race he was in.

But Eddy had to snap back to reality. What was going to happen to him now?

The cop took Eddy home and told his parents what had happened. Eddy's parents asked for his side of the story. For once, Eddy couldn't use his quick thinking to help him out, so he told his parents the truth, in his own words. Of course, his parents believed him. But the cop had other ideas. He told Eddy's parents that Eddy would have to appear in court. After the cop left, Eddy began to blame the curse. Since the Ydde's were so poor at the moment, they couldn't hire a lawyer, so Eddy's mother told him to just tell the truth.

* * *

Captain Falcon was also to appear at the trial, but because of his racing schedule, the trial was postponed for a number of weeks. Finally, the day of the trial came. Eddy was terrified, but he did think that it was kind of cool that he was going to meet his hero.

Besides Eddy and Captain Falcon, the only other people in the courtroom were the judge, Eddy's parents and grandpa, Double D, and Ed. When the judge asked Eddy what had happened, he did the only thing he could at the time: he told the truth.

"Well, I was just walking by the candy store," Eddy explained, trying his best to stay calm. "And as I was walking, these shoes suddenly fell from the sky and hit me on the head. I thought this was a sign, because my dad works with sneakers, and I guess I just started running without thinking."

Eddy thought it sounded awful. It didn't seem quite convincing. He winced every time the judge brought down his gavel, which made a loud WHACK! which echoed across the room.

Then Captain Falcon told his side of the story. From what he said, Eddy learned that Captain Falcon had donated the sneakers to a local homeless shelter so they could be sold off at an auction. Their price range was between four and five thousand dollars. As Eddy heard Captain Falcon's side, his confidence plummeted. This was just great. He was finally meeting his hero, and his hero thought he was a no-good-dirty-rotten-thief.

Of course, the judge declared Eddy guilty of the crime, and he gave the boy two options. The first option was jail, of course. But then there was a second option. Apparently, there was a correctional facility for bad boys in Texas known as Camp Green Lake. Eddy could go there. But he had to decide fast. Vacancies don't last long at Camp Green Lake.

"The choice is yours," the judge told Eddy. "You can go to jail, or you can go to Camp Green Lake."

Eddy's eyes darted across the room. "Uh . . . well . . . I . . . " He looked from the judge, to Captain Falcon, to his parents and grandpa, and finally to Double D and Ed. He knew how poor his family was at the moment. He turned back to the judge and swallowed the huge lump in his throat. "Well . . . I . . . I've never been to camp before . . . "

WHACK!


	2. Welcome to Camp Green Lake

There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. Heck, it isn't even green. It was a vast, deserted wasteland in Texas. It used to be a town called Green Lake, but that was hundreds of years ago.

Now, all that was left of the lake was a giant pit filled with holes. Nearby were the cabins for the bad boys, the mess hall, and the rec area with the showers.

There is no shade at Camp Green Lake. If you were a bad boy, you spent the day out in the blazing sun digging your hole. The only shade in the whole area came from two oak trees, which had a hammock tied between them. These trees were next to the Warden's office. They didn't belong to any of the boys. They belonged to the Warden. The Warden owned the shade.

Out in the pit that used to be the lake, there are certain dangers. There are tarantulas and rattlesnakes. They would hide out in the holes, so the boys had to be careful. But they weren't that dangerous. You could get bitten by a tarantula, or even a small rattlesnake, and you'd live. Usually. If you got bitten, you got to spend a day recovering in your tent instead of digging.

Then there was the lizards. The lizards that came after the lake dried up. The yellow spotted lizards. They were called this because each lizard had exactly eleven yellow spots on its back. Other dominant features included blood red eyes, black fangs for teeth, and a milky white tongue. If you were close enough to one of these lizards to count the spots, you were probably dead.

All it took was one bite from one of these monsters, and you were done for. You'd die slowly and painfully. If you got bitten from one of these yellow spotted lizards, you might as well walk over to the Warden's cabin and sit in the hammock. It wasn't like there was anything anyone could do to you now.

* * *

Nine hours. Nine hours. That's how long Eddy had been on this stupid bus. The only other people on the bus were the driver and a guard sitting across from Eddy, a gun in his lap. 

Eddy's right hand was handcuffed to the seat he was sitting in. The only item Eddy had with him was a small backpack, which contained his toothbrush and a big box of stationary. He had promised to write at least once a week.

There wasn't much for Eddy to do on the bus. All he could do was look out the window as the barren Texas desert he was being condemned to. It went on for miles and miles. Eddy rolled his eyes. This was certainly going to be a fun experience.

Soon the bus was about a half hour away from Camp Green Lake, and Eddy was still staring at the nothing outside his window. Suddenly, he sat up. He could swear that he could see a young pale-skinned girl, probably in her mid-teens, by the side of the road. She had dark indigo chin length hair, and cold white colored eyes. She wasn't smiling. She was wearing a cowgirl outfit, which consisted of a black shirt and pants, with a white vest, belt, and boots. Her hat was also black with white trimming.

Eddy shook it off after the bus had passed the girl, but he still thought it was a _little_ odd. But then he saw something else. It was a wagon being pulled by a large fox. Holding the reins on the fox was a young boy, who also looked to be in his mid-teens. He had short spiky blond hair, with a dark blue headband wrapped around his forehead. Most of his hair was covered by the sun hat he was wearing. His eyes were blue and wide-eyed, and Eddy could swear that he saw marks on the boy's face that resembled whiskers. His outfit was an orange shirt and pants, with patches of dark blue on the shoulders and a white collar. His sandals were also dark blue. Like the girl in the cowgirl outfit, this boy had a forlorn look on his face.

The bus quickly passed the boy in the wagon, but curiosity got the better of Eddy. He adjusted his body the best he could so he could see behind him. His eyes widened. The boy in the wagon had disappeared. So had the girl in the cowgirl outfit.

The bus suddenly hit a bump. Eddy quickly turned around, and the guard, who had appeared to be asleep before, instantly sat up.

"_Okay, that was weird,_" Eddy thought as the bus continued on the dusty trail. He wondered if the heat was getting to him. The bus wasn't air conditioned, so it was boiling.

After what seemed like another eternity, Eddy saw the bus pull into the middle of a series of buildings out in the middle of nowhere. As the bus screeched to a halt, the guard reached out and unlocked Eddy's handcuff.

It took Eddy about a second to find the feeling in his legs. When he finally was able to get up, the guard half-pushed him off the bus.

"Welcome to Camp Green Lake," said the guard as Eddy stepped onto solid ground.

Eddy looked around, wrapping his arms tighter around his backpack. The whole place was a dusty wasteland. All the other boys were walking around in dirty-looking orange jumpsuits with matching hats. Some of them were holding shovels.

"Where's the lake?" asked Eddy.

The guard just laughed, then led Eddy to one of the smaller buildings.

"_Okay, stupid question,_" Eddy thought as he stepped into the building. He also knew something else: This was not going to be pleasant. As Eddy walked in, he noticed a posted sign that said that firearms, drugs, and alcohol were prohibited inside the camp grounds. "_Uh, duh!_" ran through Eddy's mind.

Inside the building, it was air conditioned, which was a relief for poor Eddy. There was a desk in the single room. Behind it, a young man was seated. He was wearing a black suit, with a blue dress shirt underneath. He had short blonde hair that covered his left eye, also concealing the left half of the sunglasses he was wearing. In his hand was a can of soda. When Eddy spotted this, it only reminded him of how thirsty _he _was.

Beside the desk was a giant burlap bag.

"What's that?" the guard asked, pointing to the bag.

"Sunflower seeds," answered the guy behind the desk. He spoke with a Brooklyn accent. Eddy wondered why the heck a guy like this was out here, in the middle of nowhere. "I just quit smoking. I used to smoke a pack a day, but now I eat half a bag of these every day."

The guard laughed.

The man reached under his desk and revealed two cans of soda. Eddy hoped that one of them would be for him, and he was greatly disappointed when the man gave one of them to the guard and kept the other for himself.

"Nine hours to get here, and now nine hours to drive back," said the guard, sipping the soda. "What a way to live, huh?"

Eddy actually felt a little sorry for the guard and the bus driver. A _little _sorry.

"I'm sure," said the guy behind the desk. "You can go now. I'll take it from here."

Eddy began to panic a little as he watched the guard leave the room. He didn't know what this other man was going to do to him.

"Eddy Ydde, right?" asked the man.

Eddy nodded. His throat was too dry to speak.

"The name's Mr. Sanji," said the man. "And when you talk to me, I expect to be referred to as so. Got that?"

"Yes, Mr. Sanji," Eddy answered, his voice cracking from being so dry.

"Now then, time to get to work," said Mr. Sanji. "Let's see what's in that bag, huh?"

Eddy cautiously handed Mr. Sanji his backpack. Mr. Sanji looked through it and declared it safe. Then he had poor Eddy undress in front of him, to make sure he wasn't concealing anything in his clothes. This embarrassed Eddy the most. Why did he have to be so short?

Then Mr. Sanji gave Eddy an orange jumpsuit and a hat like the ones Eddy had seen earlier. Eddy quickly put them on. The hat had a strip of cloth in the back to protect Eddy's neck from the sun. Mr. Sanji explained how Eddy was to wear this suit when he went out and dug, and after he was finished, he would change into another suit, his "relaxing suit." Then after three days, his working suit would be washed and his relaxing suit would become his working suit.

Mr. Sanji led Eddy outside. Eddy clutched his backpack, now containing his clothes, to his chest.

"We dig holes here, Mr. Ydde," said Mr. Sanji. "Every morning, we wake you up at 4:30, and then you go out and dig. You are to dig one hole each day, five feet deep and five feet wide. After you're done with that, you have the rest of the day to yourself." Mr. Sanji looked down and saw the look of bewilderment on Eddy's face. "You heard me. 4:30 A.M.. It's the coolest part of the day." He looked up again. "Look around, Mr. Ydde. What do you see?"

Eddy looked where Mr. Sanji was looking. He didn't see anything.

"Do you see a fence?"

"Uh . . . no. . ." Eddy stammered. ". . .Mr. Sanji," he quickly added.

"Do you see any guards?"

"No, Mr. Sanji."

"There's nothing there, is there?"

"No, Mr. Sanji."

"So there's nothing there to keep you from running away from here."

Eddy looked outward, then at Mr. Sanji. What game was he playing?

"Run away if you want to. I'm not going to chase you."

Now Eddy was really beginning to panic. He had spotted the gun slung around Mr. Sanji's hip.

"You're looking at my gun. Relax, kid. That's for yellow spotted lizards. I wouldn't waste any bullets on you."

"I'm not going to run away," Eddy heard himself say.

"Good," said Mr. Sanji, a smug grin appearing on his face. "You know why? 'Cause we got the only water for 10,000 miles. If you ran away, you'd be buzzard food in three days."

Then Mr. Sanji told Eddy that it was time to assign him to a cabin. Eddy cautiously followed this somewhat creepy man.

"_What's going to happen to me?_" This question lingered in poor Eddy Ydde's mind. What was going to happen was an adventure beyond his wildest dreams. But first, he would have to survive his first day at Camp Green Lake. Could he do it?

* * *

Well, that's the second chapter. And to make things interesting, I'm not going to update again until I get a good amount of reviews. Until then, happy reading! ;) 


	3. The Boys of D Tent

Eddy was assigned to the D Tent in Camp Green Lake. When he and Mr. Sanji got to the tent, another man was just stepping out.

The man was tall, with narrow eyes and black hair slicked back on his head, with the exception of a few pieces hanging in his face. Eddy could smell the distinct and strong smell of cigarette smoke on the man's clothes, although he wasn't smoking at the moment.

"Is this the new boy?" the man asked Mr. Sanji.

"Yep," Mr. Sanji answered. "Eddy Ydde. I'm sure you know what to do with him." He then walked back to his office, leaving Eddy with this new man. He was still badly shaken.

The man introduced himself as Mr. Saito, and told Eddy that he was D Tent's counselor. He then led Eddy inside so he could settle in.

"Calvin! Jason!" Mr. Saito called out. "Come meet the newest member of D Tent!"

Two boys laying on beds sat up. They both had orange jumpsuits on, just like Eddy. The only difference was that these two boys were covered from dirt, head to toe. They both looked very hot and tired.

One of the boys was very short. The sleeves and pant legs of his jumpsuit had to be rolled up because he was so small. He had a crop of spiky blond hair on his head and wide, inquisitive eyes.

The other boy was taller. He also had blond hair, but it wasn't spiky like the other boy's. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of glasses, completely fogged over by dirt.

"What happened to Barf Bag?" asked the taller boy.

"He's still in the hospital," said Mr. Saito. "He won't be coming back. Calvin, why don't you and Jason go get the rest of the boys so they can meet Eddy?"

"My name's not Calvin," said the shorter boy. "It's Tiger." He pointed to the other boy. "And that's Hacker."

Tiger and Hacker then left the tent to get the "other boys."

"They all have nicknames," Mr. Saito explained to Eddy after they left. "But I prefer to use their real names so they can be recognized by civilization."

Soon, Tiger and Hacker came back with four other boys in tow. The first three were introduced as Garfield, Sanosuke, and Luffy. They called themselves Beast Boy, Brawler, and Rubberman.

The last member of D Tent was the most unusual of all. He appeared to be a hedgehog-like creature. From what Eddy could tell, most of his body was black fur under the jumpsuit, but it was just a guess. He was wearing some odd-looking shoes and gloves on his hands. On the back of his head, spiky black quills with red streaks poked out from underneath his hat. This boy either didn't have a real name, or he didn't have a nickname. Both Mr. Saito and the other boys called him Shade.

"We call him Shade because he keeps us all in the dark when it comes to him," said Mr. Saito. He playfully shook Shade on the shoulder. "Right, Shade?"

Shade said nothing, but simply walked over to one of the beds, laid down, and closed his eyes.

"Where's the empty bed, Jason?" asked Mr. Saito.

"Barf Bag slept here," answered Hacker, kicking one of the beds.

"Then that's where you'll sleep Eddy," said Mr. Saito. "I'm sure you'll fit in just fine here."

"Yeah right, Mom," said Beast Boy. "Look at him. He wouldn't last one day here." Beast Boy was probably the oddest-looking out of all the boys. His ears were pointy at the top, and his skin and hair were green!

"Yeah Mom," said Brawler. He was a tall boy with dark brown spiky hair held back by a red head band. "You said the same thing to Barf Bag, and look what happened to him."

Mr. Saito just smiled. "Boys, you shouldn't judge Eddy before you get to know him. You might be in for a surprise. And Garfield, if you and Sanosuke want to call me Mom, that's fine with me."

The boys just shrugged and began to get into their beds.

"Sanosuke, I'm counting on you to show Eddy around," said Mr. Saito. "Tell him where to fill his canteen and such." He then looked at Eddy, who still didn't seem to know what to think. "Don't worry," he said. "You'll be just fine." He then walked out of the tent.

Eddy slowly walked over to his bed. It was smelly and it looked uncomfortable, kind of like Ed's bed. Also, he wasn't particularly happy that he was going to have to sleep in a bed previously used by someone named Barf Bag.

At the foot of the bed was a canteen. Eddy slowly picked it up and set his backpack down. He looked at Brawler. "Hey, uh, Sanosuke," he said slowly. "Where do we fill our canteens?"

The next thing Eddy knew, something struck him across the face hard, and he fell onto his back. Brawler was eerily standing over him.

"My name's not Sa-no-su-ke," he said. "It's Brawler. If you want to survive in this tent, you call us by our nicknames, got it?"

Eddy, too terrified to speak, quickly nodded.

"Good," said Brawler. He then turned around. "There's a spigot out near the showers," he said as he walked back to his bed.

Eddy quickly got up. He now knew the first rule in D Tent: call people by their nickname, or suffer the consequences.

* * *

That night, everyone in D Tent had settled into their beds, if you could call them beds. Eddy didn't actually have to do anything that day, since he just got there. Tomorrow he would dig his first hole.

Eddy was pondering something that Hacker had said to him earlier that day.

* * *

"So, you just got here, huh?" Hacker had asked him.

"Uh . . . yeah," Eddy said. "So, I hear we dig holes here."

"Yeah, we dig holes here," said Hacker. "I take it you'll start digging with the rest of us tomorrow."

Eddy nodded.

"Well, don't expect any fun," said Hacker. "That's one of the problems with this camp. The fun is gone."

"The fun?" asked Eddy.

"Come on," said Hacker. "You can't tell me that you've never wanted to dig a big hole."

Eddy stared. He had no idea what Hacker meant.

"You know," Hacker continued. "Dig a big hole through the earth, and then you'd pop out in China on the other end."

"Oh yeah," said Eddy. "I guess I've wanted to do that."

"Well, that's not gonna happen here," said Hacker. "All the fun is gone. You're out in the blazing sun all day, digging a hole five feet wide and five feet deep. It's not fun. All the childlike wonder and fascination are gone when you come here."

"Oh," said Eddy.

"Anyway, good luck tomorrow," said Hacker. "The first hole is the hardest."

* * *

_The first hole is the hardest_. Eddy wasn't exactly sure what Hacker had meant by that. As he was thinking, the other boys began to talk about how they had ended up at Camp Green Lake, except for Shade, who was still lying on his bed with his eyes closed.

"I was always a troublemaker, I guess," said Tiger. "You know, picking on girls, always getting bad grades, not having many friends. One day, it just got so bad that my mom and dad decided to send me here for an attitude adjustment." Tiger looked down at his feet. "But they were in such a rush to get here, I didn't have time to grab my tiger, Hobbes. He's still back at my house. Man, I miss him . . . "

When Tiger's voice trailed off, it was Hacker's turn. "I love computers," he said. "I know everything there is to know about them. I was the smartest student in my class. I've always liked to make things on the computer, including viruses and the like. I'll admit, I sent one or two to important places like the White House and such. But they seriously need to spend more time on the important things, like finding a way to bring dinosaurs back to life! Anyway, one day, they somehow tracked one of my viruses back to its source, and I was arrested and sent here."

Brawler went next. "I gamble," he said. "It's my favorite thing to do. But one night, I lost every game I played. I had one too many drinks after that to drown out the sorrow, I ended up getting into a fight with another guy and . . . long story short, I was arrested for assault charges and sent here."

Then Rubberman spoke. He was a skinny kid with a thick patch of raven black hair on his head. Under his orange hat was a dusty old straw hat, which he insisted on wearing at all times. "I was caught shoplifting from a grocery store," he said, pouting. "I don't get it. I said I was going to pay them back and everything. I just needed to have some meat."

Beast Boy laughed, then a small frown appeared on his face. "I got caught buying video games off of a bootleg site. I didn't know it was illegal. I just thought it was a cheap way to get the good video games. But when I was found out and couldn't pay back the money, I was sent here."

"What about you?"

Eddy looked up when he heard Hacker's voice. He realized that Hacker was talking to him. All eyes were on him.

"They had to have sent you here for a reason," said Brawler.

"Oh," said Eddy. "I stole a pair of sneakers."

The other boys seemed to think that was funny.

"What, you took them off a guy's feet?" asked Rubberman.

"No, he shot the guy first," said Beast Boy. He turned back to Eddy. "Left that little detail out, right?"

"Uh . . . no," said Eddy. "They belonged to Captain Falcon."

None of the boys seemed to believe him.

"The racer?" asked Hacker. "Yeah, _right_!"

"No way," said Tiger.

"Did the shoes have red X's on them?"

Everyone turned to look over at the bed in the corner. Shade was still lying on his bed, but his eyes were open now.

"Uh . . . yeah," stammered Eddy.

"Woah!" exclaimed Beast Boy. "You got Shade to talk!"

"What else can you do, Shade?" smirked Tiger.

Shade said nothing. He simply closed his eyes again. He did not talk again during the remainder of the conversation.

* * *

Later, after the lights had gone out in the cabin, Eddy was having difficulty falling asleep. He was tired, but he just couldn't close his eyes. He decided to try and think of something to distract him. Soon, his mind wandered to an old story his dad and grandpa had told him. The story of how the Ydde family had become cursed.

* * *

**Author's note: **And so chapter three draws to a close. This chapter, and the chapters that will come after it, have the same rule as the last chapter: I won't update until I get a sufficient amount of reviews. Happy reading! ;) 


	4. Anthon Ydde and Wizard Robotnik

"There is no curse on this family," Eddy's mother hadkept insisting.

"There is on the men's side," Eddy's father would respond.

"Indeed," Eddy's grandpa would then say. "And it all started a long time ago, in the country of Latvia." He then proceeded to tell young Eddy Ydde IV the story of how the entire family had been cursed.

* * *

Eddy's great great-grandfather was a Latvian man by the name of Anthon Ydde. When he was fifteen years old, he had fallen in love with a young girl by the name of Milika Manson. She was about to turn fifteen, and according to her father, this was the perfect time for the young girl to be married.

But there was one problem: another man was also wanting to marry Milika. He was a smelly, rude, forty-three year old man named Ivan.

When Anthon learned this, he was distraught. _He _wanted to marry Milika. He decided to tell his problems to an old friend of his that lived in the small village. He was supposedly a wizard, and the villagers only knew him as Robotnik.

Wizard Robotnik was always dressed in a black cloak. The hood hid his bald head and the fact that his left leg stopped at his ankle. He had no left foot. But the hood did nothing to hide his big nose or big fluffy mustache.

Anthon quickly went to the old wizard and told him how he wanted to marry Milika, and Ivan was just standing in the way.

"Good," the old wizard had said after Anthon had finished his story. "You deserve much better than that Milika girl. Her head is as empty as a flowerpot."

"But I love her," insisted Anthon.

"Correction: you love her beauty," said Robotnik. "Ask yourself this: Is she really any use to you? Can she milk a cow? Can she push a plow? Can she have an intelligent conversation with you?" Before Anthon could respond, Robotnik answered his own question. "Of course not. Her head is hollow and she is stupid. You deserve better, my boy. You should go to America. Like my son. That's where you belong."

"No, I love Milika," said Anthon. "I want to marry her."

Robotnik gazed at the young man sitting before him before sighing. "All right then," he said. "If you want this girl to be yours so badly, here is what you should do. See that little runt back there?" The old wizard then pointed behind him, into the chicken pen he owned, to the littlest chick in the pen. "You must carry that chick up the mountain for fifteen days, and let him drink from the river. And while he drinks, you will sing this song to him."

Then Wizard Robotnik taught young Anthon the special and magical song he was to sing.

"But what good will that do?" Anthon asked.

"Every day, the chick will get a little bit bigger, and you will get a little bit stronger," the old wizard continued. "By the last day, the chicken will be big enough and you will win the heart of this "Milika" girl. But there is one last thing you must do. On the day after the fifteenth day."

"What is that?" asked Anthon.

"You must carry _me _up the mountain, and sing the lullaby to me as I drink from the river," said Wizard Robotnik. "I want to go up there one last time before I die."

"I promise that I will," said Anthon. He then began to stand up and get the piglet.

"But be warned," the wizard suddenly said as Anthon was getting up. His voice was different now. It had more of an ominous feeling that sent chills up and down young Anthon's spine. "If you forget to carry Wizard Robotnik up the mountain, you and all of your descendants will be cursed forevermore." The old wizard then sank into his cloak.

---

So, for the next fourteen days, Anthon Ydde carried the young chick up the mountain, let him drink from the river, and sang the special chicken lullaby to it. And the Wizard Robotnik was right: every day, the young chicken got bigger, and Anthon got stronger.

On the fifteenth day, whom Milika was going to marry would be decided. However, Anthon decided not to carry the chicken up the mountain. He didn't think that it would make any difference. Instead, he took a bath. He didn't want to show up at Milika's smelling like chicken.

But once he got to Milika's, Anthon discovered, to his horror, that a day can make a big difference. His chicken and Ivan's chicken were exactly the same size.

Milika's father inspected both chickens. "Well, I have two men here who want to marry my daughter, and their chickens weigh exactly the same. How am I to choose which one will marry my daughter?"

"Why don't we let Milika choose?" asked Anthon, hoping this would still give him a chance.

"Milika?" asked her father. "Are you daft? There's no way she could make such a difficult decision. She's too stupid."

"It's worth a shot," mumbled Anthon.

"All right then," said Milika's father. "Milika! Come out here, please."

The young girl stepped out onto the porch. Anthon gazed at her beautiful face. "Yes?" asked Milika.

"These two gentlemen each want to marry you," said her father. "You are to choose which one you want to marry."

"Gosh, me?" asked Milika. "Oh my . . . I don't know . . . I know! I'll think of a number between one and ten. And whoever guesses the closest number will be my groom!"

Anthon's eyes widened. His heart plummeted into his stomach. He could not believe what he was hearing. How could someone so beautiful be so brainless?

"Anthon, what's your number?"

Anthon looked from Milika, to her father, to Ivan. A stiff frown appeared on his face. "Marry Ivan," he grumbled, walking away. "Keep my chicken as a wedding present."

After leaving Milika's home, Anthon was inconsolable. Wizard Robotnik had been right. He was _right_! Milika was a brainless fool, and he had been blinded by her beauty. But as he was passing the docks, he noticed a sign: DECK HANDS WANTED FOR AMERICA.

America! That was the solution. Anthon would go to America. Without thinking of anything else, Anthon quickly packed his bags and boarded the ship.

However, halfway to America, Anthon Ydde remembered his promise to Wizard Robotnik. Once again, his heart plummeted to his stomach. What would happen now?

---

In America, Anthon learned English and married a young, beautiful girl named Allison Carlton. And she was perfect, she could milk a cow, push a plow, and have an intelligent conversation with Anthon.

The only problem was that bad luck followed poor Anthon wherever he went. He always seemed to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. He remembered that Wizard Robotnik mentioned a son living in America, but he never found him. What was he supposed to do if he found the son anyway? Carry him up a mountain and sing the chicken lullaby to him?

After the chimney of their house had been crushed by lighting for the third time, Anthon told Allison of his broken promise to Wizard Robotnik.

"I am worse than a chicken thief," said Anthon. "You should leave me and find someone who is not cursed."

"I don't care if you're cursed or not," said Allison. "I love you, and I'm not going to leave you. But there is one thing you must do."

"What is that?" asked Anthon.

Allison smiled. "Sing me the chicken lullaby."

Anthon sang the song in Latvian. Allison thought it was beautiful, and asked what it meant in English. Anthon did his best to translate it, but it wasn't as impressive. "It rhymes in Latvian."

"I can see that," said Allison.

A year later, Anthon and Allison's son was born. Allison named him Eddy because she found out that Eddy was Ydde spelled backwards. She changed the lullaby's lyrics so they rhymed, and would sing the tune every night to little Eddy.

"_If only, if only," the woodpecker sighs._

"_The bark on the trees was as soft as the skies."_

_And the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely._

_He cries to the moo-ooo-ooon, "If only, if only."_

This song ended up being in the Ydde family for generations to come.

* * *

"But not all of the Ydde's had bad luck," Eddy's mother pointed out. "Eddy Ydde the first had amazing luck in the stock market."

"Yeah, but then he got it all taken from him by that outlaw Hinata," Eddy's grandpa responded.

"Hold the phone," Eddy had said. "Hinata? As in "Heartbreaker" Hinata?"

Heartbreaker Hinata had a reputation as the most dangerous and most notorious outlaw in all the west more than a hundred years ago.

"Yep," said Eddy's grandpa. "Took all of his riches and left him stranded in the Texas desert. He was crazy when a few rattlesnake hunters found him and rescued him. When they asked him how he had survived, he claimed to have found refuge on 'God's Thumb'."

"Did Hinata kiss him?" asked Eddy.

"Nope," said his grandpa. "She only kissed the guys she killed." That was the other thing Heartbreaker Hinata was famous for: her mark, which was her lip prints inside a perfectly drawn lipstick heart.

Now Eddy thought _that _was cool. Sure, he would have preferred success, but it was still cool that his ancestor had been robbed by a famous outlaw.

"Did great grandpa ever say what "God's Thumb" meant?" asked Eddy. "You know, after they rescued him?"

"Nope," said Grandpa. "He just blamed his no-good-chicken-stealing-father."

* * *

This conversation had taken place a long time ago, but it still rang in Eddy's head as if it had taken yesterday. _That _was the reason his scams never worked. _That _was the reason everyone thought he was a thief because sneakers had fallen on his head.

_That _was the reason he was here, at Camp Green Lake.


	5. Moneybags' First Hole

After what seemed like forever, Eddy was able to nod off. And he was having a good dream.

"Who, me?" he mumbled in his sleep. "Of course . . . I accept this award on behalf of myself . . . "

RING-A-LING-A-LING!

Eddy bolted upright to the sound of the really loud bell. In his hands was one of his dirty shoes. There was a clock in the cabin. Eddy had to blink a few times for his eyes to adjust. And as they did, they suddenly widened when Eddy saw just what time it was.

4:30? _A.M._? There had to be some mistake! Nobody gets up at 4:30 A.M.! But Eddy's nightmare proved true as he watched the boys around him groggily get up.

Eddy plopped his head back onto his uncomfortable pillow and groaned. The food here was worse than the stuff they served in the cafeteria back home (and Eddy thought that wasn't possible), the shower had no hot water and only lasted four minutes, his bed was hardly a bed, and now this! What next?

Eddy took a deep breath and slowly got out of bed. Then he changed into his orange jumpsuit and ran to join the other boys for breakfast.

"Breakfast" consisted of some kind of warm oatmeal, slices of fruit, and a carton of orange juice. It wasn't any better than dinner last night. At least it was food.

After that, Eddy and the other D Tent boys were sent out to the lake, just like all of the other boys. But not before getting their shovels and filling their canteens. The first shovel Eddy took had been taken away by Hacker. Hacker claimed that this certain shovel was his "special" shovel and it was shorter than all of the others. If that was true, Eddy figured that it was only by a millimeter.

* * *

As the other D Tent boys got right to digging, Mr. Sanji suddenly appeared, driving a truck with a giant water tank in the back. He got out and proceeded to remind Eddy what he had to do.

"You are to dig one hole, each day, five feet wide and five feet deep," Mr. Sanji explained in his Brooklyn accent. "Use your shovel as a guide. Periodically, either Mr. Saito and I will come and fill your canteens and bring you your lunch. They say water is the root of all life, so in a way, I'm giving you life."

"Thank you, Mr. Sanji," mumbled Eddy.

Mr. Sanji then began to walk back to the truck. But then he stopped and turned back to Eddy. "Oh, one more thing," he said. "If you dig up anything . . . _interesting_ . . . tell either me or Mr. Saito when we come to fill the canteens. If the Warden likes it, you get the day off."

"What are we supposed to be looking for?" asked Eddy.

Mr. Sanji's visible eye narrowed. "You're not looking for _anything_," he insisted. "You're building character. I'm just saying that if you find anything interesting, show it to us. Got it?"

"Yes Mr. Sanji," said Eddy.

Mr. Sanji nodded, then started toward the truck again.

Eddy then looked down at the hard dirt below his feet. He positioned his shovel, then jumped onto the blade. Eddy lost his balance and fell, making the shovel fall with him. He looked at the dirt. There wasn't even a dent.

"You thirsty, kid?"

Eddy looked back behind him. "Yes Mr. Sanji," he called back.

"Get used to it," said Mr. Sanji, getting into the truck. "You're going to be thirsty for a long time. This ain't a Girl Scout camp."

* * *

Eddy was finally able to find a crack in the ground and begin his hole. As he began to dig, it was very hard. Literally. The ground was very crusty and dry due to water deprivation. And it didn't help that his shovel was just a few inches taller than him.

Before long, very painful blisters began forming on poor Eddy's hands. He tried to handle the shovel a different way to ease the pain. It didn't work.

Eddy looked at the other boys. They didn't seem to be having any trouble, especially Shade, who didn't say a word. He just dug his hole.

Eddy was beginning to understand what Hacker meant when he had said "The first hole is the hardest."

As Eddy dug deeper into the earth, it began to get easier. This part of the ground wasn't as water deprived as the top of the ground. But his hands were still covered in bloody blisters. He resorted to taking off his hat and placing it between his raw hands and his shovel. He paused to take a drink from his canteen.

Then the sun came up. By this time, Eddy was beginning to wonder if he was even going to make it to five feet.

To ease the pain and keep him distracted, Eddy tried to imagine the picture of his great-grandfather being robbed by Heartbreaker Hinata. He played it over and over in his head.

Eddy barely even noticed when either Mr. Sanji or Mr. Saito came to refill the canteens. He just got into line at the back, behind Shade. He also thought about it as he ceased digging to eat his bag lunch, which was a sandwich, a banana, and a cookie.

"_I found refuge on God's Thumb._" That's what his great-grandfather had said when they had found him. But what did it mean? It would probably have been helpful if his great-grandfather had remembered what he had meant when he fully recovered.

After he started digging again, Eddy looked over at the other boys. How long had it been? Hours? Minutes? Seconds? Eddy had lost track a long time ago. Shade had finished. Before leaving, he looked down into his hole and spat into it. Then he walked off the lake, taking his shovel with him.

As Eddy kept digging, he watched as one by one, the rest of the boys finished digging. They all spat into their holes and walked away, taking their shovels with them. Pretty soon, Eddy was the only one left digging.

Eddy worked furiously to finish his hole, despite being tired, hungry, thirsty, and in extreme pain. But somehow, he was finally able to finish.

When Eddy was finally finished, the sun looked like it would set in a few hours. Eddy was down in his hole, and he was trying to grab a side so he could pull himself up.

But there was a problem. Eddy couldn't reach the side. His hole was taller than he was! Eddy tried jumping a few times, and even tried to climb up using the shovel. Nothing worked.

Eddy sat down in his hole and moaned. Now what?

"Eddy!"

Eddy quickly stood up and craned his neck so he could just make out Mr. Saito walking toward him.

"Thank goodness," said Mr. Saito, peering down into the hole. "I was afraid that you passed out."

"I'm done," Eddy's voice cracked because of his dry throat.

"Well done!" said Mr. Saito as he helped Eddy out of the hole. "I knew you could do it! Do you want a ride back to camp?" He pointed to the water truck.

"No thanks," Eddy heard himself say. "I'll walk." He watched as Mr. Saito drove away. Then he turned back to his hole. Gathering his last bit of saliva, he spat.

* * *

Once Eddy made it back to camp, he let the cold water of the shower just run over him. It was four minutes of heaven. He was too tired to use soap.

After Eddy changed into his relaxing clothes, he slowly walked to the rec room. On the front was a giant sign that said WRECK ROOM.

The Wreck Room was filled with boys in jumpsuits, sprawled out on couches, watching the TV with the broken screen, or playing pool on the out-of-shape pool table. At least the fan in the window worked.

As Eddy made his way through the jungle of jumpsuits, he suddenly tripped over a leg.

"What'cha doin'?" a voice mumbled from the couch.

"None of your business," Eddy mumbled back, too tired to care about the lump.

"Wanna say that again?" the Lump asked, sitting up.

"Hey, don't mess with Moneybags," said a voice from behind. Eddy turned to see Brawler and Hacker walking over.

"Yeah, you don't want to start it with Moneybags," said Brawler.

"I wasn't trying to start anything," said Eddy.

"Moneybags is cool!" exclaimed Rubberman from the other side of the room.

"I won't start anything," said Eddy.

Suddenly, all the boys began to leave the Wreck Room.

"Dinnertime," said Beast Boy. He turned to Eddy. "Come on, Moneybags."

"Yeah Moneybags," said Tiger. "Chow's on."

Eddy just stood there as the other boys walked out. He was finally figuring out what was going on.

"Wait, so. . .that's me?" Eddy asked out loud, pointing to himself. "I'm Moneybags?"

As Shade walked by Eddy, he shrugged. "Better than Barf Bag," he said as he walked out.


	6. What do you want to do with your life?

Eddy had no trouble falling asleep that night, but morning came way too fast. As the bell rang, Eddy couldn't even move at first. Every part of his body was in pain. But he somehow forced his aching body out of bed.

Before Eddy knew it, he was back out on the dried-up lake. He found another crack and began to dig. Once again, he put his hat between the shovel handle and his hands, but he decided that he'd have to put it back on when the sun came up. The top of his head and his neck were badly sunburned from the day before.

Eddy was getting tired of picturing his great-grandfather being robbed by Heartbreaker Hinata. He'd have to find something else to focus on. He looked at the other boys from D Tent. They were all just digging away as if it was nothing new. And it probably wasn't new. Who knew how long those boys had been at Camp Green Lake?

Eddy could see one thing they all had in common though: they all had a frown on their face. Of course, digging all day in the blazing heat, getting served mediocre meals, and relaxing in a wrecked "Wreck Room" had to mess with your head. The only company these boys had was each other. They had formed a special little clan, distinguished by nicknames.

And they had accepted Eddy into this clan. He was Moneybags. He was one of them now.

Then Eddy thought back to that fateful day when the shoes dropped on his head. He thought about Kevin, the boy who pestered him mercilessly about his height and his "dorkiness." Although Kevin crumbled to the sound of Eddy's _brother's _name, Eddy was nothing. When he was with his brother, Eddy was cool. But Eddy's brother was gone. Eddy was nothing.

Eddy looked at the other boys again. Then he began to picture how Kevin would react if any of these boys went to his school . . .

* * *

"_Just what do you think you're doing?" asks Beast Boy, shoving his hands into Kevin's smug face._

"_Moneybags is our friend," says Brawler, grabbing Kevin by the collar of his shirt.

* * *

_

Eddy smiled. He played the scene over and over again in his head, letting each boy from D Tent get their chance at pummeling Kevin. This helped him relax and kept him occupied while he dug his hole.

Once again, Shade was the first one finished, and Eddy was the last. Only this time, Eddy's wasn't as tired, so he could actually think. This allowed him to think of digging little steps in the side of his hole so he could climb out.

After Eddy had finished showering and had changed into his relaxing suit, he headed back for D Tent. When he entered, he saw all of the boys sitting in a circle, along with Mr. Saito.

"It's nice of you to join us, Eddy," said Mr. Saito. Once again, Eddy smelled smoke on Mr. Saito's clothes as he sat down. "We're just discussing what we want to do with the rest of out lives. We're all not going to be at Camp Green Lake forever."

"Wow, that's great Mom," said Beast Boy. "They're finally gonna let you go?" The other boys laughed.

"Let's start with you Garfield," said Mr. Saito. "What do you want to be when you get older?"

"I dunno," Beast Boy mumbled.

"Well, do you happen to have any interests?" asked Mr. Saito.

"I like animals . . . " said Beast Boy.

"Okay, that's a start," said Mr. Saito. "Does anyone here know of a job involving animals?"

"Veterinarian," said Brawler.

"Very good, Sanosuke," said Mr. Saito. "Anything else?"

"He could work in a zoo," suggested Rubberman.

"Are you kidding?" asked Tiger. "He _belongs _in a zoo."

"What about you, Eddy?" asked Mr. Saito. "Do you have an idea for Garfield?"

Eddy thought for a second. "An animal trainer," he said. "Like for the circus or movies."

"Do any of those sound good, Garfield?" asked Mr. Saito.

"Yeah, I like what Moneybags said," said Beast Boy. "I think it'd be fun to train monkeys."

Hacker laughed.

"Don't laugh Jason," said Mr. Saito. "They're going to be needing monkey trainers out there."

"Come on Mom," said Hacker. "There's no way that Beast Boy could be a monkey trainer."

Mr. Saito turned to Eddy. "So, you're Moneybags?" he asked. "Tell me Moneybags, do you like to dig holes?"

Eddy shrugged.

"Well Eddy," Mr. Saito continued, "you're here, at Camp Green Lake, on account of one person. Do you know who that person is?"

"Yeah. My no-good-dirty-rotten-chicken-stealing-great-great-grandfather, that's who it is."

The other boys erupted into laughter. Even Shade smiled. This surprised Eddy. All of the other times he saw Shade, he had a sad-looking frown on his face. He thought Shade had a nice smile.

"No, Eddy," said Mr. Saito. "That person is you. You're in charge of your own actions. The decisions you make can either help you or mess up your whole life. Lucky for you boys, it's not too late to change your lives. You could all make a difference in this world. Even you, Shade. You're not _completely _useless."

The smile immediately left Shade's face. He set his jaw into that sad frown. Eddy wondered why Mr. Saito and the other boys were so mean to Shade.

"So, tell us Shade," said Mr. Saito. "What do you want to do with your life?"

Shade looked down at his feet.

"Come on, Shade. What do you like to do?" asked Mr. Saito.

Shade's answer was so quiet Eddy almost didn't catch it.

"I like to dig holes."


	7. Discovery on the Barren Lake

How long had it been? Days? Weeks? Months? Who knows? Eddy had lost count. But that conversation on what the boys wanted to do with their lives still stuck in Eddy's mind like it had been yesterday. Maybe it had been yesterday. But Eddy was too tired to remember.

Now he was out on the lake again. And he was digging another hole. After Mr. Saito's conversation had died down, Eddy wondered why Mr. Saito had not asked him what he wanted to do with his life. What _did _he want to do with his life? Eddy always assumed that he would keep scamming kids for a zillion years and never get old by building a fountain of youth. Now he was starting to wonder if this would be his last day on earth.

He also couldn't figure out why everyone was so mean to Shade. From what Eddy could tell, Shade had done nothing to provoke anyone. He always just sat there, looking like he was asleep. So why all the abuse? Where did he even come from? Why was he at Camp Green Lake in the first place?

Eddy realized that he just couldn't answer any of those questions. He dug his shovel into the dirt.

* * *

After the conversation with Mr. Saito, Hacker told Eddy that he looked tired.

"Well, the first hole is the hardest," said Eddy.

"No, it's not," said Hacker. "The second hole is the hardest. No, wait. The _third _hole is the hardest."

* * *

Of course the third hole was the hardest. And the fourth, and the fifth, and the sixth . . .

Eddy dug his shovel into the dirt.

But as he lifted the dirt on his shovel onto the pile, Eddy thought he saw something shimmer. At first, he thought it was nothing. But Eddy was always curious. He just couldn't get it out of his head. Soon, he found himself sifting through the dirt with his hands. They were now covered in rough calluses instead of blisters.

Suddenly, Eddy's hands hit something in the dirt. He pulled it out. It was half of a tube-like structure.But Eddy couldn't really tell what it was because it was covered in dirt.

He took a few drops of his precious water and used it to clean the little treasure that he'd found. As he cleaned it off, he got a better view of what it was. As the dirt ran off, gold shimmered underneath. It was half of a gold tube. What it was exactly, Eddy didn't know. But it did seem a bit familiar . . .

Suddenly, Eddy remembered a conversation he had with Hacker a few days after he had arrived at the camp.

* * *

It was about the third or fourth day, and Eddy was busy trying to get done sooner on his hole. He stopped when he realized that Hacker had stopped digging to watch him.

"Uh . . . you need something?" Eddy asked.

"Did Mr. Sanji tell you to report to either him or Mom when you found something . . . interesting?" asked Hacker.

"Yeah," said Eddy, remembering back to that first day.

"Well, if you find anything, give it to me, okay?" asked Hacker.

Eddy was confused.

"You heard Mr. Sanji," said Hacker. "If we find something the Warden likes, we get the rest of the day off. I've been here almost a year and I haven't found anything. It wouldn't be fair for a newbie like you to get a break and not me, right?"

Eddy thought for a second. Who could argue with Hacker's logic? "Uh . . . no, I guess not. Okay. If I find anything, I'll give it to you."

Hacker smiled. Eddy wished he could see Hacker's eyes through those dirty glasses of his. "You're a good guy, Moneybags," he said. Then Hacker went back to digging his hole.

The next time Mr. Saito came by to fill the canteens, Eddy was about to take his place at the back of the line, when Hacker told him to move up a step, behind Beast Boy, but in front of Shade. Eddy smiled. He was actually being accepted.

* * *

"What'cha got there, Moneybags?"

Rubberman's voice snapped Eddy out of his thoughts. He looked up at the straw-hatted boy with the big eyes, then back down at the half-tube.

"Uh . . . I think I might have found something," said Eddy.

"Let me see," said Rubberman.

But instead of showing it to Rubberman, Eddy got out of his hole and walked over to Hacker. He showed the bespectacled boy the tube.

Hacker wiped his glasses (even though it did nothing at all) and stared at the tube. "What do you think it is?" he asked.

Soon, Brawler, Beast Boy, Tiger, and Shade also came over to look at the tube. "It could be a shotgun shell," said Brawler. "It sure looks like one."

"Nah, that's too thin to be a shotgun shell," said Beast Boy.

Shade just stared at the tube. Then he went back to his hole.

"What's that on the bottom of it?" asked Tiger.

Eddy turned the tube over. Inscribed on the bottom was a heart with a big fancy-looking letter H in the middle.

"'H'?" asked Rubberman. "What's that mean?"

"It means Hacker," said Hacker, taking the tube. "This thing was meant for me to find. Good work Moneybags. Mom should be by to fill the canteens soon."

"Why show it to him now?" asked Eddy.

"Huh?" asked Hacker.

"You're almost done with your hole," continued Eddy. "Why don't you wait and show it to Mom tomorrow morning? That way, you can have the whole day off instead of a little time off tonight?"

Hacker smiled. "Once again, a brilliant idea, Moneybags." He put the tube into the giant pocket of his jumpsuit. Then everyone got back to digging.

Even though it was probably none of Eddy's business, the tube stuck in his head. Where had he seen something like that before? Could he have seen it back home?

He dug his shovel into the dirt.

* * *

Later that night, in the Wreck Room where all the boys were relaxing, Mr. Saito walked in. "Eddy," he called.

"His name's Moneybags," corrected Brawler.

"Eddy," Mr. Saito called out again.

"My name's Moneybags," said Eddy.

"Well, I have a letter here for someone named Eddy Ydde," said Mr. Saito. "It doesn't say "Moneybags" anywhere on here."

"Uh . . . thanks," Eddy mumbled, putting the letter into his pocket.

"What, you're not gonna read it to us, Moneybags?" asked Beast Boy.

"I bet it's from his mom," said Tiger. The boys laughed.

"Hey now," said Hacker. "If Moneybags doesn't want to read it, he doesn't have to read it. It's probably from his girlfriend."

Eddy smiled.

* * *

Eddy went back to the tent so he could have some privacy. Then he read his mother's letter. She talked about the usual. His father still hadn't found anything, but he was close. Very close. The only problem was that he just couldn't put his finger on it. Even worse, people had begun to complain about the smell, so there was a chance they could be evicted from their home.

Now _that _scared Eddy a little bit. He wasn't sure he could handle being homeless.

"You didn't steal the shoes."

Eddy's head shot up at the sudden voice, and he found himself staring right into the eyes of Shade. Eddy just sat there, hypnotized for a second, then suddenly snapped out of his trance.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"You didn't steal the shoes," repeated Shade, his tone not changing. He then got up and walked out of the tent.

Man, there was no keeping anything from Shade.


	8. The Warden

The next morning, as everyone was getting ready to go out on the lake, Eddy went over to Hacker.

"Do you have it?" he asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" yelled Hacker. "Leave me alone! Just leave me alone!"

Eddy was shocked. Had Hacker forgotten about the tube already? But he immediately shrugged it off.

Hacker still didn't say anything about the tube once Eddy and the others were out digging. When Mr. Saito came by in the water truck, Eddy was sure Hacker would say something, but he watched in confusion as Hacker got his canteen filled and went back to his hole without saying one word.

But just as Mr. Saito was getting back into the truck . . .

"Mr. Saito! Mr. Saito!" yelled Hacker. "Wait, Mr. Saito! I think I found something!"

Mr. Saito went over to Hacker's hole. Hacker held out his shovel. On the top of a mound of dirt was the gold tube.

Mr. Saito stared for a second. Then he smiled. He got out a small walkie-talkie. "Nami, Hacker found something," he said into the walkie-talkie. "And I think you're gonna like it."

Everyone watched as Mr. Saito drove away in the truck. But a little later, he came driving back. Not only did Mr. Saito get out of the truck, Mr. Sanji got out too.

And then there was the woman who got out of the truck. Eddy had never seen her before. She was a tall woman, and she looked even taller because Eddy was looking up at her from down in his hole. She wore a white tank top and a jean skirt, and silver studded cowboy boots. A white hat covered her fiery red-orange chin length hair.

She walked right up to Hacker's hole. "This where you found it?" she asked Hacker.

"Yes, Warden Ma'am," said Hacker.

Eddy's eyes widened. This_ woman _was the _Warden_? The way everyone talked about the Warden, Eddy had assumed it was a man.

The Warden smiled. She turned to Mr. Saito and Mr. Sanji. "Oh Mr. Sanji," she crooned, her voice turning syrupy sweet. "Please drive Hacker back to camp. He gets the rest of the day off. And give him extra shower time, won't you please? Also, bring back three wheelbarrows."

"As you wish, Warden-san," said Mr. Sanji, all the gruffness gone. It was like the Warden had turned him into a puppy or something.

Eddy watched as Mr. Sanji and Hacker drove away in the truck. Then his eyes went back to the Warden.

"Saito," she said, her voice normal again. "Please fill the canteens of these fine young boys."

"I already did," said Mr. Saito.

Warden's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?" she asked.

Mr. Saito flinched. "I said I . . . "

"Excuse me?"

"But I . . . "

"Don't you think that these boys drank some of the water since you last filled them?"

"Well, maybe, but . . . "

"Moneybags, could you come here a second?" asked the Warden, beckoning to Eddy.

Eddy, shocked that the Warden knew his nickname, slowly walked over to the other two.

"Mr. Saito and I are having a small conversation," said Warden. "Did you drink any of your water since he filled the canteens?"

"Well, not a whole lot . . . " Eddy began.

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, I drank some," said Eddy, shrugging.

Warden took Eddy's canteen from him, and began to shake it. "Hear that?" she asked Mr. Saito. "That's empty sounds. Fill it up so we don't hear any more empty sounds. Or maybe you'd like to dig and Moneybags can fill the canteens?"

"I'll fill the canteens," said Mr. Saito.

"Good," said the Warden.

A little while later, Mr. Sanji came back, minus Hacker, plus three wheelbarrows. The boys were given their instructions from the Warden.

Shade was to take over Hacker's hole (she seemed to know that Shade was the fastest digger) with Tiger and Beast Boy staying at their holes. The only difference was that the dirt was now being dug twice. After Shade, Tiger, and Beast Boy would pass the dirt up, Eddy (helping Shade), Rubberman (helping Tiger), and Brawler (helping Beast Boy) would then put it on their shovels and inspect the dirt closely in case they found anything. Then they would put it in the wheelbarrows and steer it far away from the area.

This went on for the rest of the day. The water truck stayed right there, and Warden made sure that no one in D Tent was thirsty.

"How did she know my name?" Eddy asked as he practically ran with his wheelbarrow to keep up with everyone.

"She has little cameras and microphones all over the camp," said Rubberman. "In the Wreck Room, in the tents, in the showers . . . "

"Dude, don't mind him," Brawler said to Eddy. "They say he suffers from acute paranoia."

Eddy nodded. At least now he knew why Hacker wouldn't talk about the tube earlier. He thought the Warden might be listening.

As Warden watched the other boys dig, she slowly walked around to each boy. "You're doing fine, just fine," she told Eddy.

As the Warden was sweet-talking the boys, Mr. Sanji was attempting to sweet-talk the Warden. "Oh Warden-san," he said. "You're so beautiful in this light of the hot sun. And that shade of lipstick looks so lovely on you."

When Eddy heard this comment, a light bulb suddenly clicked on in his mind. He finally figured out where he had seen something like the tube before. His mother had a lot of them in her bathroom. It was half of a lipstick tube.

With that accomplished, Eddy began to wonder who the tube belonged to. His mind raced.

_H_?

_H_?

Eddy's thought was so spontaneous, he almost fell over the wheelbarrow. As he got back into sync, his mouth quietly formed the name "Hinata." Eddy then began to wonder if the tube had really belonged to the heartbreaking outlaw.


	9. Digging into a Forgotten Past

One hundred and ten years ago, Green Lake really did have a lake. The biggest lake in Texas. It was a big, beautiful, bustling town, and everyone took pride in their beautiful lake. It looked especially amazing in the spring, when the peach trees would bloom on the side of the lake.

The town of Green Lake had many wonders. One of them was the schoolteacher in the town. A young girl named Hinata. She had beautiful dark indigo chin length hair and pure white eyes that sparkled in the sun. She was the only teacher in the town. The children and adults loved her.

Another wonder of Green Lake was Naruto, the onion boy. He always wore an orange and blue jumpsuit, and a blue headband to hold up his spiky blond hair. On each of his cheeks were three lines that resembled whiskers.

The town had a doctor named Dr. Hawthorn. Whenever somebody got sick, they would see Dr. Hawthorn, but they would also see Naruto.

"Onions!" Naruto would call out every day, riding down the streets of Green Lake. "Sweet, fresh onions!" Naruto would ride in a big wagon filled with onions. The wagon was pulled by Naruto's pet fox, named Kyubi.

Naruto's onion farm was on the other side of the lake, and he would always row across to it in his sturdy boat, also named Kyubi. He loved to brag about his secret plantation, "where the land is green all year round, and the water runs uphill."

Every day, Naruto would stop his wagon out by the schoolhouse, where the children and Miss Hinata would come out and listen to his tales about the miracle vegetable, the onion.

"The onion can cure any disease," Naruto told the children, holding a small onion between his fingers. "They can cure asthma, warts, the flu, anything. If you don't believe me, just ask Kyubi. He eats nothing but onions and he's almost fifty. Never been sick a day of his life."

Fifty was, and still is, very old for a fox to live.

"How would you know, Naruto?" asked Miss Hinata. "You're not a day over fifteen."

"Naruto!" somebody called from behind.

Naruto turned around to see three men running toward him. "Afternoon Walter, Bo, Jesse," he said.

"We were wondering if we could buy some of your lizard juice," said Jesse. "We're going rattlesnake hunting tomorrow."

Naruto looked behind the three men to see a person covered up by a blanket on their trailer. "You three have the right idea, unlike your friend back there," he said. "You shouldn't go into yellow spotted lizard territory without my onion juice."

"I don't want to be anywhere near those red-eyed monsters," said Bo. "You sure that stuff works?"

"Of course," said Naruto, selling all three men two bottles of onion juice apiece. "Remember, it's very important that you drink one bottle of that stuff tonight. Got to get the onions into your bloodstream. The lizards don't like onion blood."

"Right," said Walter. "Afternoon, Miss Hinata," he then said, turning his attention to the teacher. "The Fourth of July festival is coming up. Can't wait to taste those famous spiced peaches of yours."

"You won't be disappointed," said Miss Hinata, smiling.

Nearby, three men on horses were gazing at young Miss Hinata.

"Sometimes I think Green Lake is Heaven on earth," said one of the men. "And Miss Hinata's spiced peaches are food from an angel."

"They sure are," said the leader of the three, smirking. This man was named Smoker Walker. His father owned most of Green Lake, including the peach trees and the lake itself. They called him Smoker because he would always have a huge cigar hanging out of his mouth. Therefore, he always smelled like smoke. The smoke, however, was better than the alternative.

You see, Smoker Walker had an incurable foot fungus, so the cigar was a cover up to hide the odor of his rancid feet. In fact, this very same foot fungus would inflict the famous racer Captain Falcon one hundred and ten years later. At least Captain Falcon showered every day.

---

One day, on a rainy Saturday, Naruto came to the schoolhouse to give Miss Hinata her weekly supply of onions. However, he was a bit shocked to what he found inside.

The school's roof had many holes in it, and water was leaking everywhere. Miss Hinata didn't seem to mind, though. She was just sitting at her desk, reading.

"Looks to me like you have some roof troubles, ma'am," said Naruto, getting her attention.

Miss Hinata looked up. "Oh, yes," she said. "I have been meaning to find someone to fix this old roof."

"I can fix that," said Naruto.

"What are you going to do? Fill the holes with onion paste?" joked Miss Hinata.

"I'm good with my hands," said Naruto. "I built my own boat."

"And I guess you'd be out of luck if your boat sprung a leak," said Hinata.

"Tell you what," said Naruto. "I'll fix this roof for you, in exchange for three jars of your spiced peaches."

Miss Hinata stared at Naruto. She couldn't help but notice his strong, firm hands. "It's a deal," she said.

Naruto got right to work on the roof. Miss Hinata loved having company. As she read and corrected papers in the school, she would often find herself glancing up at the onion boy.

Pretty soon, Naruto was done with the roof. Miss Hinata walked out to give him his three jars of spiced peaches.

"There you go, Miss Hinata," said Naruto. "I guarantee that roof for five years. If there's anything else I could do . . . "

"Well, there is one thing," said Miss Hinata. "The windows won't open. The children and I would enjoy a breeze every now and then."

"I can fix that," said Naruto.

As Naruto worked on the windows, Miss Hinata would work with the children. She was surprised by Naruto's interest in poetry. Sometimes she would be reading a poem to one of the children, only to be surprised that Naruto would finish it from memory.

After the windows were done, Miss Hinata complained that the door wouldn't stay shut.

"I can fix that," said Naruto.

That night, Naruto worked on the door as Miss Hinata taught her night class, which consisted of adults. The only problem was that most of the adult males were more interested in the teacher than actually learning.

"The . . . duck . . . swims . . . on . . . the . . . lake," one of her students read off the board.

"The duck may swim on the lake, but my daddy owns the lake!" proclaimed Smoker Walker. Smoker was one of the students who didn't care for learning. He seemed to be proud of how stupid he was.

After the lesson was over and the men left for home, Smoker stuck around.

"How would you like to take a ride out on my boat this weekend?" he asked Miss Hinata.

"No thank you," said Miss Hinata as she erased the board.

"It's quite the beauty," Smoker went on. "And you don't even have to row it."

"I've seen it," said Miss Hinata, not looking at Smoker. Everyone had seen-and heard-the Walkers' new boat. It made a very loud and horrible noise and spewed noxious black smoke across the beautiful lake.

Smoker was used to getting everything he wanted, so he found this a little hard to believe. "No one says "no" to Smoker Walker!" he said, pointing at Hinata.

Miss Hinata faced him. "I believe I just did," she said.

Smoker chewed on his cigar. He left in a huff, sneering at Naruto on the way out.

Naruto just looked at Miss Hinata and shrugged. Then he went back to work on the door.

* * *

"Two days," said the Warden, walking around the holes and poking the dirt with a pitchfork. "This is the day. I can feel it." 

By this time, all three holes were so big that they had now merged together and become one big hole.

"You know, the ancient Mesopotamians didn't have shovels to dig," Mr. Saito told the boys as he walked around.

But Eddy wasn't paying attention. Something was up. Why was the Warden making them dig here? What was with the lipstick tube owned by Heartbreaker Hinata? He remembered where he had _really _found the gold tube. He dug the hole into his memory.

* * *

After a while, Naruto had fixed everything in the schoolhouse. It looked like a shimmering gem now. Everybody was happy with it. 

Miss Hinata walked out to give Naruto the last of the spice peaches she owed him.

"Well, there you go Miss Hinata," said Naruto. "It's quite the gem now."

"Yes, it is," said Miss Hinata.

Just then, Naruto bent down and picked something up off the ground. When he came back up, he held a small daisy out to Miss Hinata. The schoolteacher gratefully took it. Then she sadly watched as the onion boy got back into his wagon and rode away.

Yes, everybody was happy with the new schoolhouse. Except one person. One person wasn't happy.

---

A few nights later, it was raining again. But this time, no water leaked into the schoolhouse. The only water in the room was coming from the schoolteacher's eyes. Miss Hinata watched as her sad tears plopped onto her open book.

Suddenly, she felt a familiar hand on hers. She looked up and blinked through her tear-filled eyes.

"I can fix that," Naruto whispered.

Miss Hinata got up and walked around her desk into Naruto's arms. She looked at him, and they kissed. It was just them. Just them in their own little world.

Outside, one man walked the rainy streets. But he stopped at the schoolhouse window. He saw the schoolteacher kissing the onion boy. His jaw dropped. His cigar fell out of his mouth and onto the wet ground below. And an enraged Smoker Walker stormed off to tell the other townspeople.

* * *

"Four days," said the Warden. She was beginning to lose her patience. She watched as all of the D Tent boys ferociously dug at the dirt. "Is that the best you jackasses can do?" she shouted down to them. "What do you think you're doing down there?" 

"Nothing," said Tiger. That was the wrong thing to say.

Just then, Brawler came back from a bathroom break.

"How nice of you to join us," said the Warden. "And where have you been?"

"I had to . . . you know . . . go," said Brawler.

The Warden stabbed Brawler's chest with the pitchfork, sending him tumbling backwards into the hole. There were three spots of blood on his chest.

Mr. Saito and Mr. Sanji were observing it all. "There's nothing down there," said Mr. Saito. "It's been four days. If there was something down there, we would have found it already."

"What are you two jawing about over there?" the Warden yelled at them. "If you two can't find a way to make them dig faster, why don't you two grab some shovels and dig yourselves? And you're giving these kids too much water."

"Well, you heard the lady!" Mr. Sanji yelled at the boys. "You aren't kindergartners in the sandbox! Dig faster!"

As Shade dug, he heard mumbling. He looked over at Eddy. He appeared to be somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness.

"No. . ." he was mumbling. "Stop it, Kevin. Come on, Kev. Stop it . . . "

* * *

"Stop it!" Miss Hinata screamed as the angry mob led by Smoker Walker threw flaming torches at the schoolhouse. "Stop it, stop it, stop it! Think about what you are doing!" 

The hysterical schoolteacher broke away from the crowd. As she glanced behind her, she saw the school being engulfed by flames.

"How do you like me now, sweetheart?" she heard Smoker's voice shout.

"Sheriff!" yelled Miss Hinata as she ran to the sheriff's office. "Sheriff! Come quick! They're destroying the school! They'll burn it to the ground if you don't . . . "

But she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the sheriff. He turned around and looked at her, stumbling on his feet. "Give me a kiss," he mumbled, grabbing her hand. "You kissed the onion picker. Why don't you kiss me?"

"You're drunk!" Miss Hinata yelled in disgust, breaking free from his grip.

"I always get drunk before a hanging," said the sheriff.

"If you hang him, you'll have to hang me too," said Miss Hinata through gritted teeth. "Because I kissed him back."

"It's not against the law for you to kiss him," said the sheriff. "Just for him to kiss you." He then tried to kiss Miss Hinata again.

Miss Hinata broke free again and ran. "The law will punish Naruto," she heard the sheriff say. "And God will punish you!"

"Naruto!" Miss Hinata shouted as she ran through town in the rain. "NARUTO!"

She got to the edge of the lake. She saw Naruto already in his boat, rowing back to the other side of the lake. Then she heard the awful rumblingnoise, and saw the ugly black smoke.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Her shrill cry rang out into the darkness.

BANG!

Miss Hinata saw Naruto slump over in his boat after the gun shot. She looked over to her right. There, lying dead with a bullet wound through his head, was Kyubi.

"Naruto . . . " Miss Hinata groaned. She sank to her knees in the rain, sobbing.

* * *

Mr. Sanji and Mr. Saito called all the boys up after seven days of the odd digging. 

"The Warden and I have decided that due to the lack of work ethic seen in you boys," said Mr. Sanji, "you will be going back to your regular routine of digging individual holes, five feet wide and five feet deep."

But Eddy was beginning to get suspicious. They hadn't found anything the last seven days. What was the Warden trying to do? What was she looking for?

"Come on, boys!" called Mr. Saito. "Let's get a move on! Let's dig, dig, dig!"

* * *

A few days after Naruto was killed, the sheriff sat at his desk, drinking a cup of coffee. The only other people in the room were a few prisoners in the jail cells. 

Miss Hinata suddenly walked in, wearing a blood red dress. She looked different. The sparkle and shimmer had gone from her eyes. "Hello, Sheriff," she said, walking up to the desk. "You still want that kiss?"

The last thing the sheriff saw was a gun pointed right at his chest.

The prisoners jumped to the sound of the shot ringing through the office. They watched as Miss Hinata carefully applied a fresh coat of purple lipstick, then carefully kissed the sheriff on the cheek. Then, for an added touch, she took the lipstick and drew a heart around her lip prints.

From that day on, for the next twenty years, Heartbreaker Hinata was the most dangerous outlaw in all of the west.

---

All of these events happened over one hundred and ten years ago. Since then, not one drop of rain has fallen on Green Lake.

Which leaves you to make the decision: Whom did God punish?


	10. The Warden's Wrath

A few nights later, after getting finished with his hole, Eddy was hanging out by himself in the tent. He was reading another letter to his mother.

About halfway through the letter, Eddy felt an odd sensation. Like he was being stared at. He turned his head, and sure enough, there was Shade, looking at the letter over his shoulder.

"Do you have to read over my shoulder like that?" asked Eddy, turning back to the letter.

Silence. Then . . .

"I can't read."

Eddy wasn't sure he had heard that right.

"I can't write either. Can you teach me?"

Eddy turned back to Shade. "Uh . . . sorry man, I'm not a teacher," he said.

Shade frowned. Then he walked out of the tent.

As soon as he did, a wave of guilt washed over Eddy. Shade couldn't read or write? That had to be the worst. But he wasn't a teacher. He didn't know how to teach. What the heck could he do?

* * *

The next day, there was a change in the weather. But not in the good way. It had become incredibly humid. Huge beads of sweat dripped off all of the boys. And either the humidity or the electricity in the air was doing things to Rubberman's already unruly hair. Now it almost stuck straight out.

Other than that, the day was pretty insignificant until about the second time Mr. Sanji came by with the water truck.

"I got a story to tell all you girl scouts," he said as he filled Eddy's canteen. "Once upon a time, there was a magical place where it never rained. The end." He then laughed at his own joke. None of the boys did.

Suddenly, a rumble of thunder could be heard. All the boys expectantly looked over at a faraway cluster of mountains. There was a big group of thunder clouds above the mountains.

"Don't get your hopes up," said Mr. Sanji as he filled Shade's canteen. "Those clouds will never make it past the mountains."

The boys got back to digging as Mr. Sanji drove away in the truck.

"Come on rain!" Brawler called in the direction of the mountains. "Blow this way."

"Maybe it will rain so hard it will fill up the lake," said Tiger. "We can go swimming."

"Not me," said Rubberman. "I can't swim."

"Then maybe it will rain forty days and forty nights, like that one story," Tiger suggested. "We'd better start building an ark."

"Yeah, and gather two of each animal" said Hacker. "Two scorpions, two rattlesnakes, two yellow-spotted lizards."

"Hey guys," said Beast Boy. "Anybody want some sunflower seeds?"

Everyone looked over at Beast Boy. In his hands was one of Mr. Sanji's sunflower seed bags. Beast Boy tossed it to Tiger.

"Where the heck did you get these?" asked Brawler.

"Snuck them off the truck when he wasn't looking," Beast Boy bragged.

The sack was tossed from kid to kid. Soon it was Eddy's turn. But he didn't want any. The seeds would just make him thirsty. More importantly, he smelled trouble. He had smelled trouble the moment Beast Boy said "Anybody want some sunflower seeds?"

Rubberman rolled up the top of the sack. "Over to you, Moneybags!" he called.

The boys couldn't tell if Eddy had just dropped the sack, or if it had opened in midair. Either way, this was trouble. Sunflower seeds were now all over Eddy's vicinity. Typical. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"The truck's coming!" yelled Brawler.

Eddy desperately tried to cover the sack and the seeds. He threw the sack into his hole and covered it up with dirt.

Mr. Sanji stepped out of the truck. He walked past all of the boys, who were doing their best to just keep focused on their digging. He stopped at Eddy's hole.

"What's that, Moneybags?" he asked.

Eddy looked, then began to panic inside. There was an uncovered corner of the sack in his hole.

"Uh . . . nothing," he stuttered.

"Come on, dig it up," said Mr. Sanji. "Maybe Warden-san will like it and you'll get a day off."

Eddy hesitated for about a second. Then he slowly dug up the sack.

"Well, well, well," said Mr. Sanji. "That appears to be one of my sunflower seed sacks. May I ask what it's doing in your hole, Moneybags?"

Eddy looked at the others, then back at Mr. Sanji. He took a deep breath. "I. . .I took the sack from your truck, and then I ate the seeds."

"You ate them?" asked Mr. Sanji.

"Yes, Mr. Sanji," answered Eddy.

"All of them?"

"Yes, Mr. Sanji."

"Man, Moneybags, why didn't you share any with us?" asked Hacker.

"I thought you were our friend," said Rubberman.

"That's cold, dude," said Brawler.

"I think you'd better come with me," said Mr. Sanji.

Eddy followed Mr. Sanji to the water truck and got in beside him. He thought it felt good as the wind blew on his face during the ride over to the Warden's cabin.

---

Eddy thought it felt good to walk in the shade of the oak trees. He wondered if this was how a dead man walking felt: he was appreciating the little things for the last time.

Mr. Sanji knocked on the door.

"Yes?" came a voice from inside.

"We got a problem with Moneybags," said Mr. Sanji.

"Come in, I guess," said the voice. "But close the door quickly or you'll let out the cold air."

Mr. Sanji and Eddy walked into the office. Eddy loved the fact that it was air-conditioned. The Warden sat at her desk. The radio was on. She reached over and turned it off.

"So, what's the problem?" she asked.

Eddy stepped forward. Once again, he took a deep breath. "While Mr. Sanji was filling the canteens, I snuck into his truck and stole his sack of sunflower seeds," he said slowly.

The Warden looked at Eddy, then turned to Mr. Sanji. "You think he stole your seeds?"

"No, I think he's covering up for somebody, like Hacker," said Mr. Sanji. "It's a twenty-pound sack, and he claims to have eaten them all . . . "

"It wasn't full," said Eddy. "I spilled a lot, too. Check my hole if you don't believe me."

"Moneybags, in that room is a small white case with flowers on it," said the Warden, pointing to a door. "Would you please get it for me?"

Eddy walked into the room. It was a bathroom. He found the case. It was a little white case with orange roses on it. It was full of nail polish tubes, lipstick tubes, and small brushes.

He took it to the Warden. "Thank you," she said, taking a small bottle out. The nail polish inside it was blood red. "See this, Moneybags? This is my favorite nail polish. You can't buy this color in stores. I have to make it myself." As she talked, she began to paint her fingernails the dark red color. "There's a secret ingredient that I use to get this color," she said as she waved her hands dry. "Do you want to know what it is?"

Eddy shrugged.

The Warden got up and walked over to Eddy. "Rattlesnake venom," she whispered. "But don't be alarmed. It's perfectly harmless . . . when it's dry." Then she very softly ran her hand down Eddy's face.

Eddy thanked his lucky stars that there were no open wounds on his face.

The Warden walked over to Mr. Sanji. "You say he stole your seeds?" she asked him.

"No," said Mr. Sanji. "I think that . . . "

But before he could finish, the Warden struck him across the face.

There were three long gashes running across Mr. Sanji's cheek. It took a few seconds for the venom to sink in. All of the sudden, Mr. Sanji grabbed his face and fell to the floor, writhing in pain.

"Warden-san," he cried out in despair. "Why? WHY?" He must have said the word "why" about twenty times.

"For your information, I really don't care about your sunflower seeds," said the Warden, completely unaffected. "If you must know, I liked it better when you smoked." She then turned to a horrified Eddy. "I suggest that you go back to your hole now."

But Eddy couldn't move. He looked at Mr. Sanji, writhing and screaming on the floor. "Is he . . . ?"

"Excuse me?"

Eddy looked back at the Warden.

"He won't die," she said, walking back to her desk. "Unfortunately for you."

That's when Eddy ran out of the office and back to his hole. On the way there, he almost stepped on a rattlesnake. Luckily, Eddy heard the rattle. But that didn't stop _him _from being rattled.

"_He won't die . . . unfortunately for you._"

Eddy knew where this was going to take him. Mr. Sanji probably hated him now.

When Eddy got back to his hole, the other boys were amazed that he was alive. They asked him what had happened.

"I told her that I stole the seeds," Eddy said. When they asked what happened, Eddy answered, "Nothing. She got mad at Mr. Sanji for bothering her." He didn't feel like telling them about Mr. Sanji's face.

To Eddy's amazement, his hole was almost done. He looked at the others in bewilderment, wondering who would be so kind as to dig most of his hole for them. His gaze stopped at Shade. His hole was the smallest. Shade just kept on digging.

Eddy was the first boy done that day. Shade was the last.


	11. Shade Learns to Read

That night, Eddy waited in the tent until he and Shade were the only ones still there.

"Why'd you do that?" Eddy asked Shade as he got up.

"You didn't steal the seeds," said Shade.

"So?" asked Eddy. "Neither did you."

"You didn't steal the shoes," said Shade. Then he walked out of the tent.

Eddy was still confused. He knew Shade was right, but why was he so sure?

"Wait!" Eddy called after Shade. "Uh . . . if you want, I can teach you to read after we get our holes done. I'm not a teacher, but I can still try."

Shade's face broke into a huge smile. They walked back into the tent.

"Do you know the alphabet?" asked Eddy.

"I think so. . .I remember hearing it somewhere before . . . I think," said Shade. "A. . .B. . .C. . .D. . ." He paused.

"E," Eddy encouraged.

"F. . .G. . ." Shade continued. "H. . .I. . .K. . .P."

Eddy smiled. "H, I, J, K, L," he corrected. "How about I recite it once, to refresh your memory?"

Eddy recited the alphabet to Shade. Afterwards, Shade recited it without one flaw.

"You don't have to teach me how to read," said Shade. "Just to write."

Eddy took out his box of stationary. The only thing about it that bugged him was that it wasn't lined. "I guess we'll start with A," he said.

He wrote a capital A on the stationary. Then Shade copied it. His A looked fine, but it was a little big for the paper. Eddy told him to write a little smaller.

"You know, there are two ways to write letters," said Eddy, trying to put it as simply as he could. "There are capital A's that go at the beginning of a sentence or someone's name, and lowercase A's that are used in words."

Shade nodded as if he understood, but Eddy could tell that he had made little sense.

"So there are really fifty-two letters in the alphabet," said Shade. "Twenty-six capital letters, and twenty-six lowercase letters."

Eddy was amazed. "How'd you figure that out?" he asked. "How did you even know there were twenty-six to begin with? Did you add?"

Shade was silent.

"Did you multiply?" asked Eddy.

"That's just how many there are," said Shade. "I can dig half of your hole each day, if you'd like. That way, you'll have more strength to teach me at night."

"Uh . . . yeah, okay," said Eddy. They began to walk out of the tent.

"You can teach me ten letters a day," Shade continued. "Five capital letters and five lowercase letters. On the last day I'll have to do twelve though; six capital and six lowercase."

Once again, Eddy was amazed. He asked Shade how he figured that out. "Did you divide?" he asked.

"That's just how it all evens out," said Shade.

"It's good math," said Eddy.

"I'm not stupid," said Shade. "I know everyone thinks that. I was called Shade even before I came here. I just don't like answering stupid questions."

---

That night, as Eddy laid in his bed, he began to reconsider his deal with Shade. Hacker wasn't going to like it. Nobody was going to like it. He began to think that maybe there was a way Shade could dig part of Hacker's hole, too.

He shook it off. _He _was the one teaching Shade. _He _was the only one who seemed to care about Shade's well-being. He would need the extra energy, _right_? So he'd be able to teach Shade, _right_?

_Right_?

---

Mr. Sanji wasn't at dinner that night, but he was there to serve breakfast the next morning. And he was quite a sight.

There were three long scratch marks on his right cheek, and his face was all purple and swollen. As the boys were served, no one dared to look at his face.

That day, Tiger was behind Eddy and Shade. "What happened to your face?" they heard Tiger ask.

Then they heard a loud CLANG! Every boy in the room turned. Mr. Sanji was holding Tiger's face against the hot oatmeal pot. After leaving him there for about thirty seconds, Mr. Sanji threw Tiger to the ground.

"Does anyone see anything wrong with my face?" Mr. Sanji called out through the room.

"No Mr. Sanji," gasped Tiger. The rest of the boys shook their heads.

"I'm kind of handsome, don't you think?" asked Mr. Sanji.

"Yes Mr. Sanji," said Tiger. The other boys quickly agreed.

Mr. Sanji then walked out of the room, glaring at Eddy as he walked past.

Mr. Saito had also been in the room. "Well, I think we all learned a little lesson just now," he said. "Mr. Sanji is a very sensitive man, and we don't want to upset him again, all right?"

Eddy and Shade could see Mr. Sanji through the door that led to the hallway. There was a small vase next to the door. Mr. Sanji growled, picked it up, and threw it across the hallway.

The vase shattered.


	12. The Good and the Bad

The next few days were a mixture of bad and good for Eddy. It was bad out on the lake, but good afterwards, when he was working with Shade.

Out on the lake, the hole digging was still exhausting and tedious, but it had become worse because Mr. Sanji was making it very apparent that he was not happy with Eddy.

Whenever Mr. Sanji drove up with the water truck, he would fill everyone else's canteen, but he would hold Eddy's canteen _beside _the stream of water. So poor Eddy would stay thirsty while everyone else got a full canteen of water. A few days later, Mr. Sanji got into the habit of filling Eddy's canteen, then taking it behind the truck and coming back with it a few minutes later. Neither Eddy nor Shade had any idea what Mr. Sanji would do with it. Those days, Eddy would be forced to dump his canteen out onto the dirt. He couldn't even imagine what vile substance Mr. Sanji was putting in his water.

Luckily, Mr. Saito seemed to know what Mr. Sanji was doing to poor Eddy. He drove the water truck more often than Mr. Sanji, and he would always fill Eddy's canteen to the top, let him take a long swig of water, then top it off for him.

It also helped that Shade would dig half of Eddy's hole for him. It gave him extra energy for writing practice at night. But it brought other problems along with it, as Eddy had feared.

The other boys were jealous. They would whine and complain whenever they saw Shade digging Eddy's hole. Hacker called Shade Eddy's "slave." Brawler suggested that Eddy get a whip. The bashing and catcalling would continue the whole time, until Shade had finished and they would walk back to camp together.

Back at the tent, Eddy taught Shade how to write the alphabet.Eddy also worked on pronunciation with him. Shade was a fast learner and quickly caught on.

The days went by fast. Soon, Shade had learned how to write the whole alphabet. After he had mastered that, Eddy taught him how to write his name.

"Capital S-h-a-d-e," Eddy spelled out.

Shade wrote it down perfectly. He smiled. He wrote his name again and again.

ShadeShadeShadeShadeShadeShade . . .

Eddy smiled. Shade seemed a lot happier now that he actually had a friend. Someone who actually cared about him and knew that he didn't have an empty head.

"That's not my real name, you know," Shade said later as he and Eddy walked to the cafeteria.

"Oh . . . uh . . . I guess I knew that," said Eddy.

"I do have a real name, but someone began calling me Shade one day, and the nickname stuck," explained Shade.

"Oh," said Eddy.

"My real name is Shadow the Hedgehog," said Shade.

"Really," said Eddy.

"I was . . . created," said Shade. "The scientist who created me, and his granddaughter . . . they were the closest thing to family I had."

"Oh," said Eddy, not knowing what else to say.

"The scientist's name was Gerald," said Shade.

"Gerald," repeated Eddy.

"Gerald Robotnik."


	13. The Case of the Missing Shade

A few days later, trouble brewed out on the lake. And the stakes grew higher.

"What are you doing, Moneybags?" Beast Boy asked as the D tent boys lined up at the water truck.

"Yeah, get in line before your slave, dude," said Brawler.

"He's _not _my slave," Eddy insisted. "We have a deal."

No one said anything as Mr. Saito gave each boy their lunch. But as Eddy and Shade walked back to their holes, they noticed Rubberman following them.

"I'll give you my cookie if you let me dig your hole," said Rubberman as Eddy dug.

"You don't need to dig my hole, okay?" asked Eddy. "Shade and I have a deal. You see, he . . . "

"Take my cookie," said Rubberman, holding it in Eddy's face.

"I don't want it," said Eddy. "I'm trying to talk here. Shade can't . . . "

"Take my cookie!" Rubberman said again.

Eddy climbed out of his hole. "Look, I don't know what your deal is, but just lay off, okay?" he asked. "As long as the hole gets dug, it doesn't matter who digs it. What's more important right now is for Shade to . . . "

Suddenly, something slammed hard straight in Eddy's face. Eddy was sent toppling into his hole. He looked at Rubberman. Rubberman was blowing on his fist.

"What's going on here?" Eddy heard Mr. Saito's voice say.

"Rubberman slugged Moneybags!" said Hacker as Shade helped Eddy up.

"He wouldn't take my cookie," said Rubberman.

"Is that so?" asked Mr. Saito. "Well Eddy, don't just stand there. Hit him back."

"What?" asked Eddy.

"Yeah, hit me back, Moneybags," said Rubberman.

"I'm not gonna hit you!" said Eddy. "I don't get it. Why don't all of you just lay . . . "

Before Eddy could finish, Rubberman was on top of him. Literally. He delivered punch after punch at Eddy's face. Eddy tried to put his arms out in front of him, but it didn't help. Rubberman was punching too fast. Eddy cried out in pain.

"That's enough!" yelled Mr. Saito.

Suddenly, the punching stopped. Eddy opened his eyes. Shade was standing above him, and Brawler was restraining an enraged Rubberman. An impression that looked like the bottom of a sneaker was branded on the side of Rubberman's face. Eddy realized what Shade had done to get Rubberman off of him.

Mr. Saito was talking into his walkie-talkie. As Shade helped Eddy up, another truck pulled up. The Warden and Mr. Sanji stepped out.

"What's going on here?" asked Warden.

"There was a riot," said Mr. Saito. "Shade kicked Luffy on the side of the head."

"Rubberman was bugging Shade and Moneybags," explained Brawler, letting go of Rubberman. "Then Mom came and told Moneybags to hit Rubberman. When Moneybags refused, Rubberman jumped on him and started to hit him. Shade kicked Rubberman to get him off of Moneybags, and then I grabbed Rubberman."

"It was nothing, really," said Tiger. "The heat just got to him, that's all."

"Yeah, you know how it is," said Beast Boy. "Out in the blazing sun all day, it does things to your nerves, you know?"

"It gets to all of us," said Hacker.

"Yeah, my nerves just fried," said Rubberman. "It's not fair that Moneybags gets to rest while the rest of us are digging our holes."

"Excuse me?" asked the Warden.

"Shade's been digging half of Moneybags' hole," said Brawler.

"Excuse me?" The Warden turned to Shade and Eddy.

"Well . . . " said Eddy. "I've been teaching him how to read, so we came up with a deal. He digs half of my hole each day so I'll have the energy to teach him. The hole's still dug, so it doesn't matter who digs it. What's the damage?"

"I'll tell you what the damage is," said Mr. Sanji. "It causes stress. You saw what just happened. Shade could have given Luffy a concussion."

"No more digging other people's holes," the Warden said to the group. "And no more reading lessons. It causes too much trouble."

Now Eddy was mad. "What is your deal?" he yelled at the others. "Did it ever occur to you that you're all so busy making fun of him and putting him down that you're paying no attention whatsoever to his well-being? And what's wrong with teaching him how to read? Every person out there should know how to read. Haven't you ever thought of _Shade's _needs for once? What kind of camp _is _this? You don't even care about any of the kids! All they're here for is to dig your stupid holes!"

Mr. Sanji and the Warden glared at Eddy, while Mr. Saito took Shade's shovel and held it out to him.

"Take it, Shade. It's all you're good for," said Mr. Saito. "So, you're learning how to read, huh? D-i-g. What's that spell, Shade?"

Shade took the shovel. He looked down at it. Then he looked up and swung the shovel like a baseball bat.

Mr. Saito collapsed onto the ground, clutching his face.

"DIG," Shade said firmly. Then he turned to the other direction and began to run, still holding the shovel.

"RUN, SHADE!" yelled Eddy as he watched his friend disappear into the haze. "GET OUT OF HERE! RUN!"

The Warden turned to Mr. Sanji. "Talk to all of the counselors," she ordered him. "Tell them to guard the shower and all of the water tanks. He won't be gone for long. He'll come back for water sooner or later." Then she turned back to the boys. "I still expect seven holes." Then she followed Mr. Sanji back to the truck.

No one helped Eddy finish the seventh hole.

---

As Eddy walked back to camp, he was furious. He was mad at the Warden, Mr. Sanji, Mr. Saito, Rubberman, Hacker, the other boys, and his no-good-dirty-rotten-chicken-stealing-great-great-grandfather. But he was mostly angry at himself. He knew it was a bad idea. If he had just refused Shade's offer . . .

Oh, what did it matter? Who knew what was happening to Shade now?

As Eddy was walking back to his tent, he heard talking as he walked past a cabin.

Eddy peeked in. There were the Warden, Mr. Sanji, and Mr. Saito with a hideously swollen face. He had two black eyes as well, but you couldn't even see them because they were just slits.

"You're sure nobody will come looking for him?" asked the Warden.

"He was living on the streets when he was arrested," said Mr. Saito. "He was a ward of the state. Of course nobody's going to look for him."

"Do you think you could erase all of his records?" asked the Warden.

"Well, there wasn't much there to begin with anyway," said Mr. Saito. "I don't think I can do it completely. It gets too technical. But I can make it so it seems like he never had a file or anything of the sort."

"Good," said the Warden. "I want him _gone_. He was never here."

"He was never here," Mr. Saito repeated. "Not that it's going to make much of a difference. No one cares about Shadow the Hedgehog."

"_I _care."

The Warden, Mr. Sanji, and Mr. Saito looked at Eddy, standing in the doorway. Eddy just stood there for a second, then ran out, dove into his bed and hid under the covers. He didn't want anyone to see him crying.


	14. But What if it Wasn't Too Late?

A few days later, a new kid was assigned to D Tent. Like Shade, he was a hedgehog-like creature, but his fur was blue, not black. His name was Sonic the Hedgehog (the fact that his last name was the same as Shade's was "a complete coincidence," as Mr. Saito put it), but Hacker called him "Speedy" because he was a very fast runner.

Apparently, Speedy was sent to Camp Green Lake because he had been caught illegally drag racing. "I don't really like racing," he explained, "but this guy was making a big offer and I just couldn't refuse. The next thing I know, the whole place is swarming with cop cars and I'm sent here as punishment."

Speedy was assigned Shade's cot and Shade's canteen. Vacancies don't last long at Camp Green Lake. "Hey Moneybags," he said to Eddy. "Do we really have to get up at 4:30 A.M.?"

"You get used to it," said Eddy. "It's the coolest part of the day."

But Eddy didn't feel like talking. He was too preoccupied. He couldn't stop thinking about Shade. It had been days since he ran away, and there was still no sign of him. He didn't have his canteen with him. There was no way he could survive out there. By now, it was probably too late for Shade.

_But what if it wasn't too late?_

For some reason, this possibility kept finding his way into Eddy's mind. He knew it wasn't possible, but it wouldn't stop nagging him. It was as if Shade himself was trying to convince Eddy.

But there wasn't any possible way Eddy could think of that Shade could survive. It was too late.

_But what if it wasn't too late?_

_---_

The next day, Eddy and the other boys got to work as Mr. Sanji explained the rules to Speedy: the hole needed to be as deep and as wide as your shovel. For some reason, Speedy fidgeted a lot as he held the shovel. Mr. Sanji noticed.

"Yeah, fidget all you want," said Mr. Sanji. "You won't be fidgeting like that by the time you're done. That's for sure."

As Eddy dug, Shade stuck in his head. What if Shade really was somewhere out there in the desert, still alive? What if he was still alive, crawling along the ground, desperately searching for water?

Eddy forced the image out of his mind. "_It's too late!_" he kept saying to himself inside his head.

"_But what if it wasn't too late?_" another voice always replied.

Eddy and the other voice argued back and forth inside his head as he dug. They were still fighting as Eddy got in line at the water truck and Mr. Sanji filled his canteen.

"_It's too late!_"

"_But what if it wasn't too late?_"

While Mr. Sanji filled the other kids' canteens, Eddy stepped away from the line. He looked inside the water truck. The keys were in the ignition. In fact, the car was still on.

"_It's too late!_"

"_But what if it wasn't too late?_"

Before Eddy knew what he was doing, he ran over to the driver's side of the car, opened the door, and got in. He tried the gas pedal, but the truck didn't budge.

Unfortunately, this caught the attention of Mr. Sanji. "Hey!" he yelled. He began to run over to the driver's side of the car. The door was still open.

"Put it in gear!" called Speedy.

Eddy grabbed the stick he always saw his father use, and shifted the gear to D, for Drive. He stepped on the accelerator just as Mr. Sanji got to the door.

The truck lurched forward, causing Mr. Sanji to fall face first onto the ground. The other boys cheered as they watched Eddy driving away with the water truck. Their cheers turned to gasps as they saw the front of the truck disappear into the ground, the rear wheels flying straight into the air.

Eddy had driven the water truck right into a hole!

Eddy pushed the now inflated air bag away from his face and fell out of the truck. He looked back at the boys and Mr. Sanji. Mr. Sanji just stood there, dumbstruck. The other boys had started to cheer again.

Then, still without thinking, Eddy turned to the opposite direction and began to run. He wasn't thinking about where he was running to. He just needed to get out of there. All he could think about was Shade.

As Eddy ran, his canteen banged against his chest. With each step, and with each bang of the canteen, one word kept popping into Eddy's mind.

Empty. Empty. Empty.

* * *

**Author's note:** And that's the end of this chapter! And just as a reminder, here's how my updates to this story work: No new chapters until I get a sufficient amount of reviews. Happy reading! ;)  
**-AMX**


	15. Journey to God's Thumb

After what seemed like forever, Eddy slowed to a walk. He wondered how far he was from camp. He looked behind him. The haze kept him from seeing anything. But he could hear the distinct sound of a motor revving over and over again. Eddy slightly smiled. That water truck wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Eddy looked down at his empty, empty, empty canteen. If he had been thinking straight, he would have at least filled his canteen before running off. Oh well. Nothing he could do about it now.

Eddy wondered what he was going to do. It wasn't like things were going to get any better when he got back. He figured as long as he was there, he should look for Shade.

As Eddy walked, he wondered what he was going to do when he got back, and if he found Shade. Mr. Sanji would be even more ticked off at him because of the water truck. Any way Eddy saw it, things weren't going to be pleasant.

That's when he remembered something. The gold tube. He could always tell the Warden where he _really _found it. But then the Warden would probably scratch him up right after he told her. And if he found Shade, she would probably scratch him as well. And telling her would mean having to tell her about the deal with Hacker, so she'd probably scratch _him _up, too.

A classic no-win situation for Eddy.

As Eddy walked, he noticed that there were still a lot of holes that had been dug. The holes back near the camp were organized and spread out to make room for the trucks. But these holes had no system. They were all over the place. They varied in size as well.

How did it get to be like this? Eddy had no idea. But he decided on one thing: the Warden was looking for something, no doubt about it. Something that belonged to Heartbreaker Hinata.

Suddenly, Eddy saw something up ahead. It looked . . . different. Even with all the haze. He ran up to the strange object.

It was an old sunflower seed sack. Eddy wondered if it was the same sack that Beast Boy had stolen from Mr. Sanji. Then he decided that wasn't possible. He picked up the sack and turned it inside out. One lone sunflower seed stuck to the inside of the burlap.

Lunch.

---

Eddy decided to hang onto the sack in case he needed to carry something. He continued to walk. Soon, the many holes disappeared. As he walked past some, he swore that he could hear the distinct hiss of a yellow-spotted lizard. He ran past those holes.

As Eddy stared straight ahead, he began to notice something odd. There in front of him were the mountains he could see when he was digging out on the lake. Another thunderstorm was brewing, and lightning flashed in the area. As the lightning flashed, Eddy noticed that one of the mountains looked different. It almost looked like . . . a giant thumb.

"_I found refuge on God's Thumb._"

Eddy's eyes widened as the words flashed through his mind. Could that be the "God's Thumb" that his great-grandfather was talking about? He had to make it there. But as he walked, it seemed that no matter how long he walked, he wasn't getting any closer.

Suddenly, he saw another peculiar object. But this one seemed bigger. Eddy gathered up the last of his strength (despite being very hungry and very thirsty) and ran up to it.

It was a boat. Eddy had to laugh. It was a broken boat on a dried-up lake. It was turned upside-down. Almost all of the paint was chipped off and a huge chunk of it had broken off.

Just then, something stirred from under the boat. Something was coming out! Eddy began to panic. What could it be?

"Hey!" he said, hoping he'd scare it back under the boat. It hurt to talk. His throat felt like sandpaper.

"Hey . . . " a weak voice replied. Then a dirty white-gloved hand and an orange sleeve appeared out of the hole.

Eddy's eyes widened. Shade's face looked like one of Ed's old jack o' lanterns. It was all saggy and worn out. But for some reason, Shade was smiling.

"No way . . . " said Eddy. "Dude, I can't believe you're . . . "

"Me neither," replied Shade. His eyes lit up. "Is that water?"

Eddy shrugged. "It's empty," he said. "So's the sack. I tried to bring the whole water truck to you, but I drove it into a hole."

Shade smiled sadly. "Figures," he mumbled. "It's cooler under the boat."

Eddy got down on all fours and followed Shade under the boat. Thanks to the crack, a little sunlight got in. It was enough for Eddy to see a bunch of jars and the shovel Shade had taken when he hit Mr. Saito.

"We have to go back to camp," said Eddy.

"I'm not digging any more holes," said Shade.

"You won't need to," said Eddy. "They'll probably put you in the hospital, like Barf Bag."

"Barf Bag stepped on a rattlesnake," said Shade.

"Oh," said Eddy. "Well, maybe he didn't hear the rattle."

"He did it on purpose."

"No foolin'?"

"He took his shoe and sock off first. I saw him do it."

Eddy shuddered at the thought.

"You want some Sploosh?"

"Huh?"

Shade took a jar that was full of a dark orange mush.

"What is that?" asked Eddy.

"Sploosh!" said Shade. "That's what I've been calling it. Hand me the shovel."

Eddy gave Shade the shovel. Shade began to tap the shovel against the lid. The lid cracked clean off.

"Careful," said Eddy.

Shade took a quick sip, then held the jar out to Eddy. "Try it," he said. "It's good."

But Eddy wasn't so sure. The mush looked awful. It had to be more than 100 years old. He wondered if Shade had ever heard of bacteria.

"It's really sweet," said Shade.

Eddy took the jar, held it up to his lips, and drank. The Sploosh felt great against his dry throat. It was really sweet and had a fantastic taste. Eddy decided that it was a fruit at one time. Probably peaches.

"We have to go back to camp," Eddy tried again as he and Shade took turns drinking from the jar.

"I'm not digging any more holes," Shade repeated.

"Okay, I have a plan," said Eddy. "Remember the gold tube? Well, when we go back, I'll tell the Warden where I really found it, and she'll be so happy that she'll let us off the hook."

"What's _Kiiiie-yooou-bye_?" asked Shade.

"What?" asked Eddy.

Shade concentrated. "_Kiiiie-yooou-bye._"

"I don't know," said Eddy.

"I'll show you," said Shade.

He led Eddy back outside, still holding the shovel, and showed him some almost faded lettering on the side of the boat.

Eddy looked at the word. "Oh, it's _Kyubi_," he said. "It's the name of the boat."

"Oh," said Shade.

"It's like this," said Eddy. "When the Y is with K, it makes the _Kee _sound, and when B is with I, it makes the _Bee _sound."

Shade nodded, as if he understood. But Eddy knew that he once again made little sense.

Suddenly, Shade clutched his stomachdropping the shovel. He fell to his knees. He moaned.

"You okay?" asked Eddy, the panic rising in his voice.

"Yeah," said Shade. "Just . . . stomachache."

"I'm taking you back," said Eddy.

"I"m not going back," answered Shade.

"You'll die out here."

"Then I'll die out here."

Eddy sighed. "Okay, I have another plan. Can you see the mountains up there?" He pointed at the mountains.

Shade looked in the same direction. "Sort of . . . " he said.

"See the biggest one?"

"Where?"

"It's the biggest one. Just tell me what it looks like. Does it look familiar to you?"

Shade stared for a moment. Then his right hand slowly curled into a fist. He stuck his thumb straight out. He looked at the mountain, then at his hand.

Eddy smiled. Shade smiled back.

"What do you think is up there?" asked Shade.

"Oh, probably a big candy store," said Eddy.

Shade let out a weak laugh.

"I'm gonna get my hands on a bunch of tasty jawbreakers," said Eddy.

"I want an ice-cream sundae," said Shade. "With hot fudge and sprinkles."

"Then I say we go get them," said Eddy.

"Yeah," said Shade. He picked himself up and grabbed the shovel.

Eddy went back into the boat and got the remaining jars. He put them in the empty bag just in case they needed them later.

Then the two boys began the long journey to what just might have been refuge on God's Thumb.


	16. Shade's Confession

As Eddy and Shade slowly made their way to the gigantic mountain, Eddy began to experience the same problem he had experienced before. No matter how long they walked, they didn't seem to get any closer to the mountain.

Shade was still a little weak, so he had to use the shovel as a third leg to move himself along. The Sploosh had saved him from starving, Eddy realized, but now it was destroying him from the inside. Eddy wondered when he would begin to feel the effects.

That was when Eddy realized that he might not feel any effects. On the last jar of Sploosh Shade had, he couldn't get the lid off, so he had to use the shovel. But most of the jars didn't have a broken off top, so Shade could probably get those open by himself. Maybe the bacteria were just in the jars of Sploosh with easy open lids, not in the ones where you couldn't get the lid off.

As Eddy pondered this, Shade suddenly had another attack. He dropped the shovel and doubled over. His entire body shook violently.

Once again, Eddy panicked. He wondered what would happen if the Sploosh succeeded in completely destroying Shade. Then he would have to use the shovel to dig a grave. Shade's last hole.

"_And who will dig a grave for me?_" Eddy thought.

A few minutes later, Shade stood up again, took the shovel, and began walking again. Eddy nervously walked by his side.

Shade finally broke the silence by asking Eddy to give him some words. Eddy smiled. He began to spell out words and Shade would say what they were. He never missed.

Before Eddy knew it, the base of the mountain was right in front of them. Eddy looked up. It was a long way up to the top. Maybe they wouldn't have to go all the way to the top. Maybe there was a flat piece of land that stuck out and had water on it.

"I guess we'd better head on up," said Eddy.

Shade nodded. He walked up to the rocky base and began to climb. This made Eddy even more nervous, but he slowly began to follow his friend.

"Give me some more words," said Shade, after they had climbed for a little while.

"R-O-C-K," Eddy spelled out.

"Rrr . . . rro . . . rock?" asked Shade.

"That's right. You're getting good at this," said Eddy.

All of the sudden, Shade stopped. Then he started to cough. With each cough, it began to sound more violent. Then he made a horrible retching sound, bent over, and threw up the entire contents of his stomach, emptying his body of the Sploosh.

Then he collapsed. His body began to roll back down the mountain.

"No no no no no!" yelled Eddy as he made a grab for Shade. "Shade . . . Shade! Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha!" Eddy was finally able to stop his body and Shade's body. With all his strength, Eddy propped Shade's body up against a rock. "There you go," he said. "Nice and comfy."

"Eddy . . . " Shade strained to speak. His eyes fluttered open. "Eddy . . . I have to tell you something."

"What is it, Shade?" asked Eddy. "What is it?"

But before Shade could answer, his head slumped over.

"Shade? SHADE!" yelled Eddy. "You can't do this now, okay? We're so close! I'm ordering your sundae now, okay? I'm getting you extra big scoops, okay? Okay?"

Not knowing what else to do, Eddy turned around and put Shade on his back. Shade's arms dangled over his shoulders. Eddy stuck the shovel underneath Shade for support. Then he got back on the path and continued to walk. And as he walked, he swore that he could almost hear an old, ominous voice cry out through the haze.

"_You must carry me up the mountain, and sing the lullaby to me as I drink from the river. I want to go up there one last time before I die."_

_---_

After Eddy got a good way up the mountain (which is no small feat when you're carrying somebody on your back), Shade woke up.

"Eddy, I have to tell you something," he repeated.

"Save your energy, Shade," said Eddy. "We'll talk later."

"No! I need to tell you now," Shade insisted. "You didn't steal the shoes. I did."

Eddy had no idea what Shade was talking about. Shade was delusional.

"I didn't know they were famous," Shade continued, his voice breaking. "I just saw them in the shelter and walked out with them. I needed shoes so bad."

Eddy stopped dead in his tracks as the lightbulb went of in his head. "Captain Falcon's shoes?" he asked quietly.

"I'm so sorry," Shade sobbed.

Eddy could feel hot tears running down the back of his neck, despite the heat. He had no idea what to do now.

So he didn't do anything. He just kept on walking. The only sound that could be heard across the hollow, empty land was Shade's soft crying.

After what seemed like forever, Shade quietly cried himself to sleep. The sun was setting overhead.

---

Meanwhile, back at Camp Green Lake, the group of D Tent, minus two members, was making their way back to the tents.

"Maybe Moneybags found Shade," said Beast Boy. "Maybe they're still alive."

"Yeah, and maybe the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy are still alive, too," said Hacker sadly.

"Maybe I'll stop fighting with my parents and I'll get to see Hobbes again," said Tiger.

"Man," said Speedy. "When Moneybags stole that truck . . . "

"Yeah," said Rubberman. "That was awesome."

"Moneybags had style," said Brawler.

After that, the six heavy-hearted and hopeless boys walked in silence. There was nothing they could do to help Moneybags and Shade now.


	17. Shade's Past

Eddy had no idea why the heck he was still walking. There was no way he could make it to the top of the mountain. Not in the conditions he and Shade were in.

At least Shade had fallen asleep again. If there was one thing Eddy hated more than the heat, it was listening to his friend in so much pain. He still couldn't believe that it was Shade who had really stolen the shoes. How could he? That would have to mean that Shade was living in Peach Creek. But if that was true, why hadn't Eddy ever seen him in town?

With the last of his energy, Eddy pulled himself and Shade up onto a giant precipice. Eddy expected nothing to be up there. Just rock. But Eddy got quite a surprise after he pulled himself up.

There were weeds everywhere. And a whole bunch of bugs. And if there were weeds and bugs, that meant there was . . .

Then Eddy saw it. It was a huge water hole in the middle of the weeds. It was full of mud and it was brown, but it was water.

Eddy was so excited, he almost forgot about Shade. As he ran over to the water, he laid Shade down on a rock, and then jumped in. He put his hands into the water, then brought them to his lips. He didn't care if it was full of mud.

"Shade, wake up!" Eddy said to his friend. Shade didn't budge. So Eddy resorted to taking a handful of water and throwing it on his friend.

This caused Shade to stir. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Eddy dancing around in the water.

"Look, Shade!" Eddy exclaimed excitedly. "Water! There's a whole little water hole here! I was right!"

Shade gave a small smile, and carefully got off the rock. He got on his knees and put his face in the water.

As Eddy fell over backward into the water, he grabbed a weed. And he pulled it right out of the ground. When he looked at the weed in his hand, he saw it wasn't a weed at all. There was a big white ball at the bottom. Eddy knew what it was. Without thinking, he took a big bite out of the ball. The bitter taste exploded in his mouth and made his eyes water. But still, it was food.

Eddy took the white ball and handed it to Shade. "Eat this," he said.

"What is it?" asked Shade.

"It's a hot fudge sundae, okay? Just eat it," said Eddy.

Shade ate the white ball. His eyes lit up. "That's the sweetest onion I've ever tasted," he said.

"Yeah," said Eddy. He then went back to lying in the water hole. Looking up at the now visible stars, he thought of his family and his big brother. Then he sang the song that had been in his family for generations.

"_If only, if only," the woodpecker sighs._

"_The bark on the trees was as soft as the skies."_

_And the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely._

_He cries to the moo-ooo-ooon, "If only, if only."_

As Eddy sang, Shade listened. Suddenly, an old memory stirred inside him. His eyes widened at his recognition of the song.

---

Back in Peach Creek, Eddy's dad was still hard at work while his mother and grandpa were eating dinner.

Eddy's dad was working with a concoction of peaches. He took a bowl of chopped onions and tried to place them on a shelf above him. Only the bowl slipped off and fell right into his concoction.

As Eddy's dad bent over to take the bowl out, he noticed something. He took the shoe he was soaking in the mix out of the pot and took a good whiff of it. He then took it over to his wife.

"Honey, smell it," he said.

"Dear, come on," Eddy's mother responded. "I'm eating right now."

"Honey, I know I've asked you this a hundred times. Just do one hundred and one, please."

Eddy's mom sniffed the shoe. "Oh, I don't smell anything," she said. Then her eyes widened. "I don't smell anything . . . " she repeated.

"Pa, what do you smell?" Eddy's dad asked, holding the shoe under Grandpa's nose.

"Nothing," Eddy's grandpa responded.

"Peaches and onions!" said Eddy's dad. "That's the secret!"

"I don't smell anything!" said Eddy's mom, getting up from the table.

"I told you I was on the brink of no stink!" said Eddy's dad. They began to dance around the kitchen as Eddy's grandpa waved his hands in the air.

---

How long had they been camping out in the mountain? Days? Weeks? Eddy had lost track after three days. He and Shade would spend their days and nights sleeping, eating onions, and splashing dirty water into their mouths. Shade became stronger each day. The onions were doing him a lot of good.

One night, as they chewed on their onions, Shade was able to clarify what he meant when he was carried by Eddy.

"My creator was the most brilliant scientist of his time," he explained to Eddy. "He wanted to create the ultimate life form. One that could bring hope to all humanity. His result was . . . "

"You?" asked Eddy.

"You got it," said Shade. "We lived on the space colony Gerald Robotnik made. It was called ARK. The only one on the colony I considered my friend was the doctor's granddaughter, Maria.

"I loved playing with Maria. She was always so nice. She wouldn't hurt anybody. She used to sing to me. That one song you sang, but hers was different.

"But then, one day, tragedy struck. The government invaded the ARK to arrest the doctor. They arrested him and killed everyone else. Including . . . "

Shade paused. He couldn't say it. But it was okay, because Eddy knew who he meant.

"Maria put me in a launching pod and sent me to Earth," Shade continued. "When I landed on Earth, the government found me and put me in stasis. I was in stasis for fifty years.

"But during that time, the doctor altered my purpose in life, only wanting revenge on the world for taking everything away from him. I had made a promise to Maria before coming to Earth. That was altered, too.

"Fifty years later, I was released again. And of course, I thought Maria wanted revenge on the world. So I began to take out that revenge, almost destroying the world in the process. But along the way, I hit a few . . . snags.

"Anyway, at the last minute, a few new . . . friends of mine helped me see the error of my ways, and I was able to stop the destruction of Earth. But I ended up falling off the space colony and falling back to Earth. Everyone thought I was dead.

"Actually, I survived the fall and landed in your town. But since most people thought I was an enemy, I couldn't turn to anybody. Times were hard after that. I had to resort to stealing because I couldn't afford anything.

"When I went to the shelter that day, they were showcasing things they were donating to charity. I didn't know the shoes were famous. There was a sign, but of course I couldn't read it. I just reached in and took them. Then all of the sudden, everyone around me is panicking. 'The shoes are gone! The shoes are gone! Where are the shoes?' It was funny in a way. There I was, wearing the shoes, and no one noticed me. I walked out wearing them. Then I took them off and put them on top of a car. I remembered that they smelled really bad."

"That was them all right," said Eddy. "Did they fit you?"

"Pretty much," said Shade.

Eddy was amazed that Shade had gone through so much.

Shade looked at the ground. "So it's my fault that you were sent to Camp Green Lake. I should have just kept those shoes. I got busted the next day trying to take some new sneakers out of a shoe store. If I had just kept those old shoes, neither of us would be here right now."

---

Back at Camp Green Lake, a black car was driving up to the camp. The D Tent boys were watching it.

"Who do you think it is?" asked Hacker.

"Maybe they're here for Moneybags' body," said Beast Boy.

"Jaguar," said Speedy. "It's a nice, fast car."

"Don't even think about it Speedy," said Rubberman.

Later, a big black dog was sitting outside the main office while two people yelling could be heard inside. The first voice was a new voice, but the second voice was the unmistakable voice of the Warden.

After a few minutes of this arguing, a young black boy stepped out of the office. He was wearing a blue tank top and yellow jeans, with a matching hat on his head. His most prominent feature though was the eight dread locks that were so long that they almost touched the ground.

"Come on Blackie," the boy grunted. The black dog followed the boy back to the car. "What kind of malarky is this?" the boy asked himself, completely disgusted. "You haven't seen the last of me, that's for sure!" he called over his shoulder. "See if I let anyone else talk to me like that, right Blackie? 'Excuse me!' Pfft!"

The Warden, Mr. Sanji, and Mr. Saito watched as the boy and the dog drove away.

"We haven't seen the last of him," said Mr. Sanji. "He'll be back."

"Along with the Attorney General," added Mr. Saito. "What are we going to tell him?"

"The truth," said the Warden. "He ran away."

"He's not going to like it," said Mr. Sanji.

"He's not going to like anything we tell him," the Warden responded.

"What do we do until then?" asked Mr. Sanji.

The Warden paused. "You'll do as I say," she said finally. She then placed her hat on her head and walked out of the office.

Mr. Sanji and Mr. Saito watched her leave. "What did she say?" asked Mr. Saito.

"Not much," said Mr. Sanji.

"What do we do?" asked Mr. Saito.

Mr. Sanji paused. "You'll do as I day," he said finally. He then placed his hat on his head and walked out of the office.

Mr. Saito stood there for a second, then realized something. "But you didn't say anything either!" he called to Mr. Sanji, running after him.


	18. The Legacy of Heartbreaker Hinata

Many nights later, Shade and Eddy were still camping out on the mountain. One night, they were sitting near the water hole, munching on onions. They no longer left a strong taste in Eddy's mouth.

"How many onions do you think we've eaten?" asked Shade.

"Well, let's see," said Eddy, thinking. "I'd say that we've been here about a week or so. And we both eat probably twenty onions a day. So that leaves us with a grand total of . . . "

". . .Two hundred and eighty onions," finished Shade.

Eddy smiled. "I bet we really stink," he said. The two boys laughed.

Eddy looked up at the stars as he finished his onion. Despite everything that had been going on, one thing still stuck in his head. If his great-grandfather had been right about God's Thumb, then there was a chance that something else was true as well. Eddy couldn't get the gold tube out of his mind. He still remembered where he had dug it up. If he had found Heartbreaker Hinata's lipstick tube in the hole, then that might mean . . .

Eddy tried not to believe it. "_You're crazy!_" he kept thinking to himself. But still, the idea stuck. It lingered in the back of his mind.

"Don't the stars look beautiful tonight?" he asked Shade.

"Yes," said Shade. "They always looked beautiful up on ARK. This brings back a lot of memories . . . "

Eddy also remembered what Shade had told him about his past, about Maria. "_If I had just kept those old sneakers, neither of us would be here right now,_" he had said. But Eddy decided that he didn't want that.

"Shade," said Eddy. "I'm glad you took Captain Falcon's shoes, and I'm glad they hit me on the head." Shade looked at his friend as if he really was crazy. "Before I came to Camp Green Lake, I thought I this happened to me because of the curse on my family," Eddy continued. "But now I realize that could never be. It's destiny. Do you have the same feeling I do, Shade?"

Shade stared at his friend for a second before responding. "Uh . . . uh huh," he said, a smile forming on his lips.

"It feels good, doesn't it?" asked Eddy. Once again, he gazed up at the stars. "Shade . . . I feel lucky."

Shade laughed. "The onions have gone to your head," he said.

But Eddy was serious. He looked back at his friend. "What do you say we dig one more hole?"

---

After twenty years of being an outlaw, Heartbreaker Hinata returned to Green Lake. The whole town was abandoned. It had stopped raining there years ago. The streets were bare. Even the lake had dried up from lack of rain. It was a place no one would find her. A ghost town on a ghost lake.

One day, Heartbreaker Hinata found Naruto's old boat turned over inside the dry lake. She just sat there, staring out at the haze. She leaned her back against the boat. Her beautiful indigo eyes that used to shine with such radiance and hope were now completely glazed over.

"It's so hot, Naruto . . . " she spoke into the haze. "But I feel so cold."

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned. There, kneeling beside her, was her old friend from many years ago.

"Naruto!" she whispered.

"I can fix that . . . " Naruto whispered back.

Hinata gently placed her hand on his cheek. But she knew he wasn't really there. She knew she was crazy. She knew she had been crazy for twenty years.

Just then, Hinata heard the sound of a gun being loaded behind her. She turned her head.

"You got five seconds to tell me where you've hidden the loot."

The unforgettable smell of cigar smoke hit Hinata's nostrils. The nose of a rifle was five inches away from her face. She turned back to Naruto, only to find that her hand was cupped around thin air. Hinata frowned. Then she took out her gun and pointed it at the man who had caused her so much pain. She was surprised to see a woman with long fiery orange hair standing next to him.

"I've been waiting for you, Smoker," Hinata growled. She held her gun there for a few seconds, then sighed. "I'm not gonna kill you," she said, dropping the gun.

At Smoker's nod, the woman grabbed the gun and pointed it at the heartbreaking outlaw. "WHERE'S THE LOOT?" Smoker shouted at Hinata.

"There is no loot," Hinata responded.

"Don't give me that!" said Smoker. "You've robbed every bank from hell to Houston."

"We saw you coming back with a shovel, Miss Hi-na-ta," said the woman.

Hinata squinted at the woman. "Hina Miller, is that you?" she asked. Hina was one of Hinata's old students. She was a beautiful young woman with brilliant hair then. Now her body and clothes were a mess, and her hair was all dirty and scraggly.

"Oh, I've been Hina Walker for the past eight years now," said Hina.

"One . . . " said Smoker.

"Oh Hina, you were always such a good student . . . " said Hinata. "You must have married him for his money." She let out a sad little laugh.

"Well, it's all gone now!" said Hina.

"Two . . . " said Smoker.

"It's dried up with the lake!" Hina continued. "Pretty soon, the whole town became deserted! It hasn't rained a day here since the day they killed Naruto! You'd better give him what he wants. He's a desperate man!"

"Three . . . " said Smoker.

"Go ahead," said Hinata, raising her hands in defeat. "Kill me. This lake goes on for miles."

"Oh, I'm not gonna kill you," said Smoker. "But by the time I'm through with you, you're gonna wish you were dead!"

Hinata left out another sad laugh. "I've been wishing I was dead for a while now . . . " her voice trailed off. "You, Smoker, and your children, and your children's children, can dig on this lake for a hundred years, and you will never find it."

Suddenly, a lizard ran out from underneath the boat, right next to Hinata. There were exactly eleven yellow spots on its back.

"Look out!" screamed Hina.

Smoker tried to shoot the lizard, but missed. But it was enough to send the lizard scurrying back under the boat.

"Come here, sweetheart," said Hinata, reaching under the boat and pulling the lizard back out. Then, as she glared at the man she hated for the last time, she set the lizard on her lap and held her arm out in front of it. "Start digging, Smoker," she said.

Smoker and Hina watched in horror as the lizard sank its teeth into Heartbreaker Hinata's arm. They finally decided to just forget it and get as far away from there as possible. They began to walk away from the boat. But one thing was for sure: they were going to find that treasure. No matter what it took or how long it would take to do it.

Behind them, the lizard remained on the heartbreaker's lap, emitting a hissing sound as Hinata let out a pain-filled laugh, then breathed her last breath.

---

And there you have it. Heartbreaker Hinata died laughing. Her twenty-year reign of terror was over.


	19. The Ydde Miracle

The sun was just beginning to set on Camp Green Lake. All of the boys and the counselors had gone back to their tents. Because of this, nobody saw the two boys frantically scurrying across the holes.

Eddy was trying to find the hole where he had found the gold tube. Since it was getting dark, he had to find it fast before he couldn't see at all. Then he found it. At least, he hoped he had found it.

"There," he whispered, pointing to the hole.

"You sure?" asked Shade, who was crouched next to him.

"Positive," said Eddy, sounding more confident than he really was.

They ran up to the hole. Eddy was carrying the burlap sack in his arms. It was filled with the water jars and a good supply of onions. Shade had the shovel. Eddy took the shovel from Shade and began to dig.

After a few minutes of watching Eddy, Shade spoke up. "This is taking too long," he said. "I'm gonna get another shovel."

"Okay. Be careful," said Eddy as he continued to dig. He watched Shade run off to the danger zone. Camp Green Lake.

---

As Shade snuck around to the shed where they kept the shovels, he heard voices. He cautiously peeked around a corner of the shed and saw Mr. Sanji and Mr. Saito. The water truck was still trashed from being driven into a hole. And it was clear that Mr. Sanji was not happy about it.

"Well, of course she's gonna make you pay for it," Mr. Saito was saying.

"You think I'd do this to my own truck?" Mr. Sanji snapped back.

"Hey, you're the one who left the keys in the ignition," Mr. Saito said in his defense. "This is a juvenile camp for juvenile delinquents . . . "

"Get me a wrench!" interrupted Mr. Sanji. "Do you hear me? Read my lips: GET ME A WRENCH!"

"Yeah, I'll get it, you blond-haired neanderthal!" said Mr. Saito, walking away. "I'm not here to be a mechanic!"

As Shade turned away, he heard the sound of metal hitting numbskull. He quickly peeked again. Mr. Sanji had just thrown the crowbar he was holding at Mr. Saito's head.

"Ouch!" yelled Mr. Saito. "Don't you throw nothing at me!"

---

Thankfully, Shade was able to obtain a shovel and safely make it back to Eddy without anyone seeing him. When he got back to the hole, he was surprised to see that it was a lot deeper.

"Wow, you've really been working," said Shade. "I'm coming down," he added as he jumped down into the hole. "How are you doing?"

"Man, it's too dark to tell," said Eddy. "I could be digging up diamonds and not even seeing them."

"I don't think Heartbreaker Hinata would bury her treasure this deep," said Shade.

Eddy stopped digging. "You're right," he said. "Come on, we have to make it wider." He began to chip sections of the walls off with his shovel.

"But how do we even know that one of her gang members didn't come and already dig the treasure up?" asked Shade.

"We don't," said Eddy. Just as he said it, his shovel bounced off something with a loud TUHNK. He hit the spot again. THUNK. "You hear that?" he asked Shade.

"Yeah," said Shade.

They began to dig in that one spot. Once they knew a hole was there, they reached in. They were struck with bewilderment when their hands met something hard and metallic.

Eddy whooped with joy. "We found it!" he yelled as they pulled it out.

Shade was too excited to speak. He just laughed. It was the first time in a long time that he laughed like he was now.

"What'd I tell you, Shade?" asked Eddy. "What'd I tell you?"

They picked up the chest so Eddy was holding one side of it, and Shade was holding the other side.

Their victory, however, was short-lived. The next thing Eddy knew, a bright light was shining in his face.

"Thank you," said the unmistakable voice of the Warden. "You boys have been a big help."

Eddy focused his eyes against the light. Sure enough, there was the Warden, holding a flashlight. Mr. Sanji was right there.

"You boys got back just in the nick of . . . " the Warden began to speak. Then she stopped. Her eyes widened.

"Oh my God . . . " murmured Mr. Sanji. His visible eye widened as well.

Suddenly, Eddy heard hissing. He and Shade turned backed to the chest. Then they both gasped as a family of lizards jumped onto both of the boys' bodies. Each lizard had exactly eleven yellow spots.

"Now what?" asked Mr. Sanji.

"Just go in and take it from them," said the Warden.

"Why don't _you_ go in?" asked Mr. Sanji.

The Warden couldn't answer.

Just then, the light of another flashlight appeared. "Oh my goodness . . . " came another startled voice.

Eddy could just barely make out Mr. Saito's voice. Other than that, he was focused on the lizards. He held his breath and waited for the worst to happen.

"Check it out . . . " murmured Mr. Sanji as the lizards crawled up and down the kids' bodies.

"Oh my God . . . " said the Warden.

"Well, now what?" asked Mr. Saito.

"We wait," said the Warden. "It won't be long now. Do you know how long I've waited for this . . . " Her voice trailed off. Then it came back in. "My grandfather drove himself mad out here digging holes. He made my parents dig, too. And when I was old enough, I had to dig. Even on Christmas." As the Warden waited for the inevitable, pain filled her dark brown eyes.

"Hey Eddy. Guess what?" said Mr. Saito. "You're innocent after all. Your lawyer came by yesterday to pick you up. Too bad you weren't here."

"Don't listen to him, Eddy," said Shade.

But Eddy was too dazed to hear anything anyway. He felt like throwing up. He was waiting for it to happen. Waiting to die. He decided to focus on his heart. On his heart's beating. Every heartbeat meant that for one more second, he was breathing. For one more second, he was alive.

---

Five hundred heartbeats later, he was still breathing.

Eddy and Shade were able to ease themselves just enough that they were now sitting down in the hole. The lizards didn't seem to mind. The chest was still sitting between them.

The Warden, Mr. Sanji, and Mr. Saito were still there, too. They all looked exhausted from lack of sleep.

"Maybe we should just shoot them," said the Warden, breaking the silence.

"The lizards or the kids?" asked Mr. Saito.

"You don't want to shoot into those lizards," said Mr. Sanji. "They'll jump out all over."

"I just want to know why they haven't been bitten yet," said the Warden.

Just then, Eddy heard the faint sound of a car motor. It was definitely a car motor.

"Oh, for Pete's sake!" said the Warden. "It can't be them already!"

"It ain't the Girl Scouts selling cookies," said Mr. Sanji.

The Warden turned to Mr. Saito. "Go greet them," she instructed. "And have the other counselors tell the boys to stay in the mess hall and not to say a word. Otherwise, they'll be severely punished."

"What should I say we'll do to them if they talk?" asked Mr. Saito.

"Use your imagination," said the Warden.

Mr. Saito then ran off. But not before being in such a hurry that he tripped and fell straight into another one of the holes.

Eddy and Shade heard Mr. Saito grunt as he fell in the hole. They both suppressed a giggle.

"Eddy . . . "

Eddy snapped to attention. Had Shade just spoken?

"Eddy . . . " Shade whispered again.

"What?" Eddy asked.

"Is your last name your first name backward?"

Eddy's eyes widened. Had Shade been working on that all night?

A few minutes later, Eddy heard Mr. Saito's voice again.

"Well, we tried to call you," he was explaining. "But sometimes the phone lines go out here . . . "

"Well, you could have tried harder," said an unfamiliar voice. "You can always reach me." Eddy figured that the boy speaking was black. The voice had a certain accent only a black person used. In the background, Eddy could also hear a big dog barking.

"Don't get too close now," Eddy then heard Mr. Sanji say.

"Why not?" said another unfamiliar voice. "What happened here?"

"Where's Eddy?" asked the black boy.

"I'll tell you what happened," said the Warden. "During the middle of the night, these two hooligans snuck into my office and stole my suitcase. I chased after them and found them out here."

That made Eddy's blood boil a little. Why was the Warden lying about the treasure chest?

"I saw it myself, Sheriff," said Mr. Saito. "Don't get too close."

"Oh my God!" the black voice gasped.

Eddy looked up. He was right. The boy _was_ black. He was wearing a blue tank top with five yellow rings on the front, and a matching hat. His jeans were bright yellow. But the most distinguishing feature was the boy's hair. It was composed of eight dread locks that draped over the boy's body, inches above the ground. Next to the boy was a big, black wolf-like dog, which was still barking.

"How long have they been down there?" asked the second voice. Eddy guessed this was the "Sheriff" Mr. Saito had mentioned earlier.

"Have you tried to get them out?" asked the black boy.

"Well, what do you suggest, Mr. Ro?" asked the Warden.

"I swear, if anything happens to them, we'll not only be pressing charges against Ms. Walker, but the entire state of Texas. Child abuse. False imprisonment. Torture," said Mr. Ro. "This wouldn't have happened if you had released him to me yesterday!" Eddy guessed that Mr. Ro was his lawyer.

"Excuse me," said the Warden. "This wouldn't have happened if he wasn't a thief."

"A thief?" asked Eddy.

"That's right," said the Warden.

"That's a lie!" declared Eddy. He slowly pushed himself up and carefully climbed out of the hole. The lizards that were on his body just jumped off and scurried back into the shaded hole. The sun was up now.

"Eddy didn't steal anything!" Shade added. He too climbed out of the hole, carrying the chest. The lizards jumped off his body, too.

"Thank God. You're alive!" exclaimed the Warden. She ran over to Shade and hugged him. Then she tried to take the chest away.

"What are you doing?" asked Shade, pulling it away. "This is Eddy's!"

"Listen you," said the Warden. "That's my chest, and he stole it from me. And you two have been caught red-handed. If I decide to press charges, this whole thing won't matter because Eddy would be going straight back to jail. Luckily, I'd be happy not to press charges if you'd just . . . "

"It has his name on it!" interrupted Shade.

"No it doesn't!" said the Warden.

"Yes, it does!" Shade insisted. He turned the chest around. "See? Ed-dy Yd-de."

Mr. Ro took a look at the chest. So did Eddy. He was dumbstruck. Written on the chest in big white letters was EDDY YDDE. He looked at Shade. Shade just smiled.

"You say he stole this from your cabin?" asked the Sheriff.

"That's imposs . . . " the Warden stammered. "It . . . it's imposs . . . You can't read!" she exclaimed to Shade.

"Ma'am," said the Sheriff. "I think you'd better come with us."


	20. Hope for Green Lake

Before Eddy knew it, he and Shade were back in front of the Warden's office. While the Warden was arguing with one of the sheriffs that were there, Mr. Sanji was hiding his face behind a clipboard for some reason. Mr. Saito was speechless.

Eddy's lawyer quickly explained that his name was Mr. Nathan Ro and he was helping Eddy's dad with his project. He had just developed a breakthrough. But now wasn't the time to talk about it. They had to leave the camp now.

"Eddy, your things are in the trunk. Let's go," Mr. Nathan Ro urged.

Eddy looked at the treasure chest in the trunk of the car, then to Mr. Nathan Ro, then to Shade next to him. The last thing he wanted to do was abandon his friend.

"I'm not leaving without Shadow," Eddy said firmly.

"Eddy . . . " said Mr. Nathan Ro.

"I'll be okay," said Shade.

"They won't be able to hurt your friend," said one of the sheriffs.

"They'll kill him," said Eddy.

Mr. Nathan Ro was silent for a second, then he sighed. "Ms. Walker, could I see the file of Shadow the Hedgehog, please?" he asked, turning to the Warden.

The Warden just stood there.

"Well?" asked the Sheriff. Another sheriff was beginning to eye Mr. Sanji, who was still trying to hide himself.

"Bring me the file of Shadow the Hedgehog," said the Warden, turning to Mr. Saito.

Mr. Saito just stood there.

"Just do it," the Warden growled.

Mr. Saito disappeared into the Warden's office.

"They're alive!"

Eddy and Shade turned around when they heard a familiar voice. Hacker, Beast Boy, Rubberman, Brawler, Tiger, and Speedy were running out of the mess hall. All the boys from D Tent gathered around Eddy and Shade, hugging them and being amazed that they were actually there. But they weren't the only ones. Soon, it seemed like every boy from Camp Green Lake was there to see them.

"We thought you were buzzard food!" exclaimed Rubberman.

"Nope," said Eddy. "And we're going home."

"Going home?" asked Beast Boy.

"Wow, you stink dudes," said Brawler. "What have you been eating?"

"Dude, you've been eating onions!" said Beast Boy.

Just then, Mr. Saito emerged from the Warden's office. All eyes were suddenly on him. "Uh . . . there seems to be no file of Shadow the Hedgehog," he said.

"Is that so?" asked Mr. Nathan Ro.

"What kind of camp are you running here, Ms. Walker?" asked the first Sheriff.

"A nice one," said the Warden. "It'd be even nicer if the state would actually give us some money."

Now the second Sheriff was really keeping an eye on Mr. Sanji. There was something familiar about him . . .

"Hey Mister," Tiger suddenly said to Mr. Nathan Ro. "Do you have a pen and paper I could borrow?"

"Nope," said Mr. Nathan Ro. "But it looks like he does."

Mr. Sanji pointed to himself.

"Yes, you," said Mr. Nathan Ro. "You got a pen."

"Uh . . . yeah," said Mr. Sanji, cautiously walking forward. "Here's a pencil."

"Do you have paper?" asked Mr. Nathan Ro as he took the pencil.

Mr. Sanji hesitated for a second. "Here," he finally said, giving Mr. Nathan Ro his clipboard. Then he began to walk away, trying to hide his face with his collar.

"Here you go," said Mr. Nathan Ro.

"Thanks," said Tiger as he took the clipboard and pencil.

"You're welcome," said Mr. Nathan Ro.

Tiger quickly jotted a number down. "Would you do me a favor?" he asked Eddy.

"Uh . . . sure," said Eddy.

Tiger ripped of a strip of the paper. "Call my mom," he said. "Tell her I said I was sorry. Tell her _Calvin _said he was sorry."

"I will, man," said Eddy, giving Tiger a hug.

"Marion Sanji," the second Sheriff suddenly said, standing up.

Mr. Sanji froze. "_Crap_," he whispered.

"It's been a while since El Paso, huh Marion?" asked the second Sheriff, walking over to Mr. Sanji and pushing him up against the wall. "You're in violation of your parole, carrying this weapon," he said, taking Mr. Sanji's gun.

"Well . . . uh . . . " said the Warden. "I had no knowledge of that!"

"Oh yeah," said Mr. Sanji. "Just like you didn't know that Saito really isn't a doctor either!"

All the boys gave out gasps of shock.

"What?" asked Hacker, turning to Mr. Saito. "_What?_"

"Sit down, Marion," said the second Sheriff. "You're under arrest."

"Marion," said Brawler.

"Huh," said Rubberman. "I tell ya, I didn't know that was a man's name."

The rest of the boys laughed.

"It ain't," Mr. Sanji mumbled as he sat down.

"Ooh," said a lot of the boys while the rest of them laughed even harder.

"Call in backup," said the first Sheriff. "As of now, this facility is under our jurisdiction."

"What!" asked the Warden.

"C'mon, Shadow," said Mr. Nathan Ro. "You're coming with us."

BOOM!

Everyone stopped. Was that thunder? Was that _thunder _they had heard just now? Then, everyone got the surprise of a lifetime when a drop of rain suddenly fell on the camp. Then another, then another, then another . . . Pretty soon, it was just pouring rain.

The adults just stood there in shock while each and every boy from Camp Green Lake hollered and whooped and jumped for joy. Then all the boys, including Eddy and Shade, ran out and just played in the rain. They were all immediately soaked.

"Eddy! Shadow!" Mr. Nathan Ro called to the boys. "Let's go!" He and Blackie got into the car.

"You be careful out there in the real world," Brawler said to Eddy.

"Yeah," said Hacker. "Not everybody's as nice as us."

Eddy and Shade ran up to the car. Eddy went over to the trunk to shut the door. But just as he was about to, the Warden ran up right next to him.

"Eddy, won't you just open it for me?" she begged him. "Just let me see what's inside it, please!"

Eddy stared at the woman who had caused him so much misery. "Excuse me?" he asked as he slammed the trunk door shut. Then he got in the back of the car with Shade. "D Tent!" he called out the window. "Keep it real!"

All the boys from D Tent cheered.

As the black car drove away from Camp Green Lake, the Sheriff sat a dumbstruck Warden and Mr. Saito down next to Mr. Sanji. As the Sheriffs were saying their "You have the right to remain silent" speech, the rest of the Camp Green Lake boys were still dancing in the rain.

It had taken more than one hundred years, but hope was shining over the town of Green Lake once more.


	21. Filling in the Holes

It was nighttime when Eddy and Shade were back in Eddy's house. They, along with the rest of Eddy's family, were just about to open the box.

"Okay everyone, just remember," said Eddy's dad. "No matter what is in this box, we are still family."

"We are the Ydde's," said Eddy's mom.

Everyone watched with anticipation as Eddy's dad cut open the lock on the box with a pair of chain cutters.

"Oh my God, honey," said Eddy's mom. "You've still got it. You are so strong!"

Then they opened the box.

It was definitely a sight. The box was filled with gold and jewels, and many papers. But just as Eddy's parents and grandpa were about to see what they were . . .

"Wait a minute, guys!" said Eddy. "Before we do anything . . . " He paused and put his arm around Shade's shoulder. "I declare that half of whatever is in this box goes to my new friend Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Hold on," said Eddy's grandpa. "Shadow the Hedgehog, as in the creation of the late Gerald Robotnik?"

Shade, surprised that someone else knew his creator's name, nodded.

Eddy's grandpa smiled. "_Boychick_!" he exclaimed, reaching over and hugging Shade.

All Shade could do was exchange a confused look with Eddy.

Eddy's parents suddenly gasped. Eddy's dad was holding a paper in his hands.

"Oh my gosh," said Eddy's mom. "Is that really worth $100,000?"

"Well, check the date," said Eddy, taking the paper. He and Shade looked at the bottom of the paper. "1905. . ." Eddy read aloud.

"What's it worth, honey?" asked Eddy's mom.

"Well, a lot more now," said Eddy. "Millions."

"_Millions?_" Eddy's mom asked in disbelief.

"Millions . . . " said Eddy's dad, taking out a stack of papers. "One for us, one for Mr. Hedgehog, one for us, one for Mr. Hedgehog . . . "

Shade responded with a smile.

---

Right after they were done with the chest, Eddy and Shade cleaned up. Then they called Double D and Ed and told them the good news. They came right over.

Later, Eddy and Shade, along with Double D and Ed, were sitting outside on the curb, under the stars.

"It's so good to have you back, Eddy," said Double D.

"It's good to _be _back, Double D," said Eddy.

"It was so boring without you here, Eddy!" said Ed. "Say, was it really true that you guys survived on onions for a week?"

"Sure is, Monobrow," said Eddy.

"I'm amazed at this whole thing, Eddy!" said Double D. "Who would have thought that being sent to an illegal correctional facility would lead to unearthing a piece of your past?"

"Well, it's amazing how destiny can work," said Shade. "Right Eddy?"

"Right, dude," said Eddy.

"Bus!" said Ed.

"What?" asked Eddy.

"Bus!" Ed said again, pointing.

The other three boys turned. A few feet away, a bus was stopping.

"That's strange," said Double D. "The bus doesn't usually come by here this late. I wonder who it could be?"

They watched as the doors opened. A single person got off the bus.

Eddy's eyes widened. His jaw dropped. He knew who this man was. He wasn't expecting him to be here. He had been caught completely off-guard.

He turned to his friends for support. Ed looked as anxious as Eddy. Double D stared in amazement. And Shade just smiled.

Eddy knew what he had to do. He very slowly stood up and turned toward the other man.

And then Ed, Double D, and Shade watched as Eddy tearfully ran up and gave his older brother a hug.

---

A few months later, Eddy's family was living in a much bigger house, still in Peach Creek. Shade, or Shadow, as he was now known, was living in an equally big house next to him.

Camp Green Lake had been shut down. It was going to be reopened as a Girl Scout Camp. Luckily, they had nothing to worry about, as long as the girls ate plenty of onions.

All of the boys were sent to real counselors and put on probation. Soon, they were all living life happy and free again.

On a particular afternoon, Eddy and his family were having a party at their house. Ed, Double D, and Shadow were there. The even bigger surprise was that Hacker, Beast Boy, Brawler, Rubberman, Tiger, and Speedy were there as well. Even Mr. Nathan Ro, Blackie, and Eddy's brother were there. It was definitely a party to remember.

The boys were messing around by the Ydde's new pool. Eddy's dad was manning the grill. Suddenly, Eddy's mother ran out.

"Come on boys!" she called to the others. "Out of the pool! It's on!"

"Showtime!" said Eddy's dad as he and the other guests ran into the house and in front of the TV.

Everyone watched excitedly as a new commercial came on the TV. On the TV, the famous racer Captain Falcon was getting out of his race car.

"To my fans, I'm known as Sweet Feet," Captain Falcon was saying into the camera. As well as on TV, Captain Falcon was also sitting next to Eddy on the couch. "But to my pit crew, I was known as Stinky Feet. No one wanted to get near them during pit stops."

Some of the guests laughed.

"But then a friend told me about Sploosh," said the TV Captain Falcon, holding the bottle up to the camera. "I just spray a little on each foot every morning, and now I really do have sweet feet."

"Sploosh!" an announcer on the TV said. "A treat for your feet. Made from all-natural ingredients."

"Plus I like the tingle," said the TV Captain Falcon.

Everyone at the party applauded as the commercial ended.

Eddy smiled. For the first time in a long time, he was truthfully and honestly happy. Not just with the things around him, but more importantly, with himself.

---

And that is the story of how the great-great grandson of Anthon Ydde and the creation of the great grandson of the Wizard Robotnik became next door neighbors.

As for any other questions you may have . . . you'll just have to fill in the holes yourself.

* * *

**Author's note**: Wow, my creative juices were just _flowing_ tonight, weren't they? Actually, I'm glad I finally got this story done. Now I can work on the many other ideas I have. But first, I'd like to say thank you to all the people out there who read this story and gave me so much praise for it. And I'm hoping that all of you will read my future stories and like them just as much as you liked this one. Keep an eye out for my new stories! But until then, peace out, and happy reading! ;) -**AMX**

**Coming soon: **_Ed Edd n Eddy's Nightmare Before Christmas_


End file.
